New Zones per Expansion

[Amerissis]

The number of zones is a very important factor for me.
I want the world to feel big, even if there isn't much going on. We already have too much cramped stuff, and "cities" that are just three houses together.

So it's not the number of zones, but the size of the zones. It could be just one zone twice as large as the current seven zones combined, couldn't it? It's never the number that matters, but the content and in your case 'emptiness' or 'space' is a form of content. I can agree with that, I like wide open spaces with little to do, as well. Even barren from mobs (it's not natural to have a large space and mobs every few feet everywhere). But counting the number of zones in each expansion says nothing about how big they are or how much open space there is.

[theWocky]

For the first time in a really long time, I've really enjoyed the zones, the questing content in Warcraft. Then, again, I found most of the expansions okay. I remember finishing off every single quest in each zone in Cataclysm. The subsequent expansions I found myself out-leveling content in zones. I do wish they would cut down more on the kill X number of mobs type quests and give them more experience. I guess it's an MMORPG thing that's not going anywhere any time soon, though.

[Lord Pebbleton]

So it's not the number of zones, but the size of the zones. It could be just one zone twice as large as the current seven zones combined, couldn't it? It's never the number that matters, but the content and in your case 'emptiness' or 'space' is a form of content. I can agree with that, I like wide open spaces with little to do, as well. Even barren from mobs (it's not natural to have a large space and mobs every few feet everywhere). But counting the number of zones in each expansion says nothing about how big they are or how much open space there is.

Obviously, by "number of zones" I mean the size of zones we're accustomed to.

[Thorbalt]

Obviously, by "number of zones" I mean the size of zones we're accustomed to.

its a fucking island, not a continent you nitpicking sack of crap

[Hawkknight97]

I think WoW Expansions would be better if they have more zones like what Wrath of the Lich King. Having the play the same old zones over and over again gets very boring like during the times of WoD and kind of Legion. I mean don't get me wrong the Zones and Story around them is good but i just want more zones to have fun in instead of a expansion lacking zones. That even includes New Races as well. How many Times do we have to have a new race that is lvl 1 to 10 being a refugee in Orgrimmar or Stormwind of following the same Refugee plot line. I would like it if New Races have a 3 zones or 2 for once and maybe even a capital city instead of boring Stormwind or Orgrimmar.

[Teri]

Being forced into 1 start zone over and over like Jade forest & Frostfire Ridge gets really boring, technically you can skip hellfire peninsula if you really wanted to by staying a little longer in vanilla zones to 61 or so.

Legion did it right with 4 zones, even if you have to do them all for the main pillars storyline.

I wish they didn't cut quest xp so severely when at the original level cap of an expansion, mobs arent as big of a deal as its understandable if they are green or grey.

Until an eventual level scaling system for old content (does not mean I want 100 or 110 mobs in elwynn or durotar), expansion other then legion keep having some zones overdone and some virtually untouched at current level speeds.

[ryanmahaffe]

Vanilla is original WoW so it doesn't fall into weight here.

TBC: 7 new zones
WotLK: 10 new zones (seperating coldarra from borean tundra)
Cataclysm: 5 new zones + a redesigned azeroth (6 with Firelands questing zone)
MoP: 6 new zones (7 with timeless isle)
WoD: 7 new zones
Legion: 6 new zones (7 with Argus)

Do you think 7 new zones is the best number if they are big enough? Or would you rather again have back the size of WotLK that offered 10 new zones?

P.S. I didn't include the PvP zones such as Ashran, Tol'Barad and Wintergrasp

As a MoP fanboy, I feel the need to correct here.

MoP: Jade forest, Kun-lai, Vale, Valley, Krasarang, Dread Wastes, Townlong, Isle of Thunder, Timeless isle.

9 zones.

[kenoathkunt]

I agree on the lich king appearing, but how's Legion better? The zones BARELY connect In anyway shape or form, at least In WoD or previous expansions, the zone stories connected somehow, from establishing a base and a foothold In Borean Tundra to helping the Argent Crusade establish a base In Icecrown and slowly pushing forward.

What do you do In Legion? Run around, getting some pillars then you don't hear about the story from there at all, only Suramar Is a good zone. The rest are just there as disconnected separate stories. I haven't seen Malfurion again, the druids of Val'sharah, the tauren from Highmountain doing anything, or the Valarjar or anything from Stormheim and totally not from Aszuna.

All the zones were made to give us some nostalgia, and not really connect In any meaningful way as the zones from expansions before did. "Hey It's the Azshara appears here zone" or "Hey, the nightmare Is in this zone, corruption, Xavius, Malfurion yelling "Noooooo" like he's darth vader" or "This zone has.... tauren????" and the last one ofcourse "Hey, you used to go to such a zone In Wrath, remember? Vrykul and shit, now we got the Valhala of WoW though, and with our Odyn In It!"...

But those zones and the stories and chars within don't connect... and If you use Trials of valor as an excuse I'll slap you. That's just a silly filler raid, with barely any meat to It. It barely did anything (And lore wise, I don't like releasing Odyn from the halls of valor In the first place... he's a dick. And he still hates mortals, and trusts his Valarjar army more, I don't trust him), and It sure didn't try to explain to use WHAT was the deal Helya struck with Sylvanas, we got nothing to end that story and we never will apparently.

So I think 7 zones are fine, as long as there's something meaningful to do In them all, and after you do them you should have the feeling that you affected the world. Rather then did 4 separate stories and then jump to Suramar to do an actual zone that ties In to the whole Legion thing.

I agree here...

While there was ALOT more to do in our Legion areas, it feels so disconnected and irrelevant to the story outside of their separate lame stories.

In wrath (and even cataclysm) it all felt like you were suffering the consequences of the badguy, and most zones were leading up to killing him.

Legion is just too disjointed, fanbased, and spacey to be a commendable lore extension.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Quality over quantity. WOTLK zones weren't exactly half as relevant upon reaching max level as the Legion zones are. If anything, MoP did the quality and quantity balance FAR better than WOTLK.

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As a MoP fanboy, I feel the need to correct here.

MoP: Jade forest, Kun-lai, Vale, Valley, Krasarang, Dread Wastes, Townlong, Isle of Thunder, Timeless isle.

9 zones.

Isle of giants: 10 zones.

[Verral]

No matter how many zones they give us with each expansion, I WOULD TOTALLY LOVE them to make us EXPLORE them again on our own.
Having one huge questchain per zone is boring, if I liked this kinda game design I'd play Gears of War.

[Benomatic]

The problem with legion zones is that every zone is excessively hills, mountains, valleys and peaks and troughs. I'd say WoD was very flawed in this regard as well. The zones do not gel well and are jarring and non fluid.

WotLK and MoP had the layout of the zones perfectly balanced.

[Teri]

No matter how many zones they give us with each expansion, I WOULD TOTALLY LOVE them to make us EXPLORE them again on our own.
Having one huge questchain per zone is boring, if I liked this kinda game design I'd play Gears of War.

I think some dynamic leveling content in a future zone/expansion would be nice, I know WoD added those zone objectives, legion took it further up to 110 combining it with area quests.

I would love to see world quests during leveling, including in old zones, of course could be seperated per faction each period, and not visible for max levels. Could maybe add an option to choose multiple gear reward from it to not be left out to RNG.

[Verral]

The problem with legion zones is that every zone is excessively hills, mountains, valleys and peaks and troughs. I'd say WoD was very flawed in this regard as well. The zones do not gel well and are jarring and non fluid.

WotLK and MoP had the layout of the zones perfectly balanced.

That.
Legion zones feel somewhat artificial. Like "hmm, what if there was a hill right here? let's try placing it here! hmmm... looks gud enough!"

[ryanmahaffe]

Quality over quantity. WOTLK zones weren't exactly half as relevant upon reaching max level as the Legion zones are. If anything, MoP did the quality and quantity balance FAR better than WOTLK.

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Isle of giants: 10 zones.

I didn't forget, I just didn't cont it because it was so small and had not much content in it.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I didn't forget, I just didn't cont it because it was so small and had not much content in it.

Still was a new zone, and a ton of people spent a ton of time on that island. Even these days it's in use by people farming bones, or farming Oondasta. For being so small it stayed relevant. I first believed it to be a waste of space, but that changed. ^^

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Obviously, by "number of zones" I mean the size of zones we're accustomed to.

Didn't they split a couple of zones during MoP development for no reason other than to increase the actual number of zones?

[Bumbasta]

I think the number of zones is relevant. I'd rather have 9 smaller ones with different themes/vibes than 3 huges zones.

[Joeydivision82]

Yes, I did Forget Quel'Danas and some small isles in MoP. My bad. I really checked each expansion map again to make sure I didn't miss any out, mistakes were made. I usually try to make decent Posts, which was my Intention here aswell, so sorry if this was a slight miscommunication.

As to why I believe zone numbers matter. I don't really, but I do like having more zones with different paths in leveling. I don't like repeating content on a second char when leveling up (asking for a unique path on a third char is too much to ask) and thus a different zone usually offers an invisible content barrier.

I am currently leveling up my second char and I am taking the exact same route as on my main, due to missing alternatives. I have the achievement of Val'Sharah, Highmountain and almost Azsuna complete and am still only 106. That means I will get the Stormheim quest achievement before reaching 110, before I move to Suramar for the same thing.

In WotLK I remember going to Howling Fjord -> Coldarra -> Dragonblight -> Zul'Drak -> Stormpeaks with my main and then Borean Tundra/Coldarra -> Dragonblight -> Grizzly Hills -> Sholazar Basin -> Crystalsong/Icecrown with my alt toon.

Don't get me wrong, I like Legion and think it's good to keep all zones relevant (by scaling the zones to your level) and I also think they added a lot of content into each Zone. I just think that they could('ve) portion(ed) the leveling better.

It's only fair you add the 4 leveling areas for Blood Elves and Draenei as well as the leveling zones for Worgens and Goblins. They are technically added areas, especially if you're counting something like Crystalsong Forest and spitting Coldarra for zero reason even though it is technically Borean Tundra.

Also, may want to add the Death Knight starting area. If you're going for "all zones" then you need to actually add all of them. If you want to use the "yeah but those are leveling zones" argument, don't forget that so are all other areas added to the game outside of The area you hit max level and look for end game raids there.

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Also, using your guildlines of zones, you didn't realize how much Outlands actually had, so here is a complete list

Outland:
Eversong Woods
Ghost lands
Azuremyst Isle
Bloodmyst Isle
Quel'danas
Hellfire Peninsula
Zangarmarsh
Terrokar Forest
Auchindoun(if you wanna split Coldarra)
Blade's Edge Mountain
Netherstorm
Shadowmoon Valley
Netherwing Ledge(splitting like Coldarra)

13 zones if you're counting your blunder of assuming Coldarra is separate from Borean Tundra.m, otherwise there are still 11 zones that were not in the game until Burning Crusade.

[Battlebeard]

More the better if you ask me. To be able to change scenery and get variation is really important.

[Lord Pebbleton]

its a fucking island, not a continent you nitpicking sack of crap

No idea what you are on about, so I'll just leave you being angry there.

Didn't they split a couple of zones during MoP development for no reason other than to increase the actual number of zones?

Did they? No idea. I think I recall something of the likes.