Warlords of Draenor Zone Preview: Frostfire Ridge

[Dracbane]

Favorite is SMV, and I'm Horde through and through.

Same here man

[mmocfd1b0ab5a3]

Boub, is there any chance you will revert no Karabor and Bladespire as capital hubs?

[Buran]

No contest. I'm a draenei through and through -- Shadowmoon Valley.

And I actually prefer the capital hub change. Karabor is our Holy of Holies; it's not a place to AFK in.

[Ostrich]

I really like both zones from what I've seen, and I like Frostfire's music better but Shadowmoon's looks better. I voted for Shadowmoon though, as much as I like Frostfire Shadowmoon just seems more enjoyable and it's about damn time the Draenei got some recognition, they are my favorite race and I'm so glad they won't be forgotten like in other expansions. I'm also happy that we will get to see them at their prime, I really hope they don't do something terrible to Karabor later in the expansion, can we please just let the Draenei be happy for once

[Ludafrank]

I wonder how they are going to deal with having a second Thrall. It's an alternate timeline and nothing that happens on Draenor has any affect on Azeroth, but Thrall will still be born on Draenor unless something happens. So how do they deal with having 2 Thralls?

They can't really close the portal to Draenor cause we have to be able to go back in the future, but they could kill off Durotan or Thrall's mom (idk her name) to keep him from being born (yes our Thrall would still exist). Or they could kill off our Thrall and give us the new Thrall, maybe even making him warchief again (fingers crossed). Or they could keep 2 Thralls so we could Thrall while we Thrall, maybe even keeping our Thrall as the tree hugger and the new Thrall as the future warchief (fingers still crossed).

/cough Thrall for warchief

[Z3ROR]

I'm in BETA, so i've seen the zones already ingame. With Shadowmoon Valley, no matter how beautiful it is, i had the feeling i've been there before. It's too much like a zone i already know. With Frostfire Ridge my experience was stunning. This is a zone we haven't seen yet before. So Frostfire Ridge wins according to me.

[stealthymatsuda]

The music sounds very Zelda to me

[LFPO8k]

This is a zone we haven't seen yet before.

Yes!!! we definitely NEVER saw a snowy zone like... ever! totally not an entire continent worth of it... because northrend is blazing hot, and we have seen many places like the new Shadowmoon I can't even describe!

[SteveZombie]

Yes!!! we definitely NEVER saw a snowy zone like... ever! totally not an entire continent worth of it... because northrend is blazing hot, and we have seen many places like the new Shadowmoon I can't even describe!

So you're saying you have seen Frostfire Ridge before?

- - - Updated - - -

I wonder how they are going to deal with having a second Thrall. It's an alternate timeline and nothing that happens on Draenor has any affect on Azeroth, but Thrall will still be born on Draenor unless something happens. So how do they deal with having 2 Thralls?

Real-world math and physics dictate it's almost certain Thrall won't be born under these circumstances.

[Nythiz]

IMO the soundtrack of Frostfire is AMAZING. One of the better soundtracks i've heard in a long long time. (My favorite will probably always be the Terokkar Forest music when the organ and violins set in; shivers any day every day).

That said though. I find Shadowmoon to be the better looking zone. It looks really diverse and flat out beautiful. The swampy area's with the showers of willow branches cascading down. The lush dark green / purple grasslands remind me of striding across mulgore for the first time and seeing the cliffs of thunderbluff show up in the distance. The diversity is also in the details. The small purple flower fields and the small fences, the pathways and the trees really break up the land. Making it seem vibrant and alive. The architecture that is applied here also adds to that, it blends in yet still stands out.

Frostfire ridge is more rigid. There is only so much you can do with a rocky snowy landscape; but I feel from the screenshots that the zone simply lacks some appeal and diversity.
We've had snowy landscapes before and a lot of them always seem to have a hard way of setting themselves apart (although some zones really do, like Stormpeaks). And FFR seems to be little different; they tried to use the rocks to break things up, but in the end they make it seem even more dull.

It basically comes down to this:
When I see Shadowmoon I really want to go there and run around, check out the small parts on the map.
With Frostfire I feel like I'll have seen most of the zone after I spend 5 minutes in there. Although I guess at least the soundtrack will keep me entertained for a while ^^

[Deleted]

Shadowmoon is beautiful, mystical and rich in lore history. Frostfire just feels, to me, like a rehashed Borean Tundra. As a Horde-main player, I am gutted that I will have to spend much of my WoD-playing time in that frozen, uninviting hole (having to build my garrison there) while Alliance players will be wandering through the enchanting gardens of Karabor. -_-

[Aerofluff]

Shadowmoon is beautiful, mystical and rich in lore history. Frostfire just feels, to me, like a rehashed Borean Tundra. As a Horde-main player, I am gutted that I will have to spend much of my WoD-playing time in that frozen, uninviting hole (having to build my garrison there) while Alliance players will be wandering through the enchanting gardens of Karabor. -_-

Pretty much exactly how I feel. Stuck with more orc and ogre huts, in a crappy wasteland. I was much more enthused back when we all thought you could place your Garrison in any zone you wanted, I was particularly fond of the one which reminded me of Eversong, it would've been a perfect garrison spot for a Blood Elf.
At any rate, Shadowmoon blows Frostfire right out of the water. I'm concerned this whole expansion for Horde is just going to be "Hey look, original Horde, more typical orc stuff"...

[CasCrow]

Considering my hatred of draenei and my love of snow. Frostfire Ridge.

[Lemons]

I watched some Tanaan Jungle questing on WowCrendor's channel and honestly the whole "we must survive!" thing was getting old pretty quick. Pretty much every single quest text he read had some form of "we need to keep moving!" in it. It's like...yeah...that's fun I guess for maybe 20 quests...but if the whole zone is going to be like that I think it's a big mistake. One of the greatest things about MoP was that you could choose your own path...if they're going to railroad me through an entire zone I'm not really down for that, especially when the pretense is so thin. I mean...you've got Thrall, Khadgar, and a bunch of other notable characters with you...something tells me it's all going to work out in the end.

[Kathranis]

I watched some Tanaan Jungle questing on WowCrendor's channel and honestly the whole "we must survive!" thing was getting old pretty quick. Pretty much every single quest text he read had some form of "we need to keep moving!" in it. It's like...yeah...that's fun I guess for maybe 20 quests...but if the whole zone is going to be like that I think it's a big mistake. One of the greatest things about MoP was that you could choose your own path...if they're going to railroad me through an entire zone I'm not really down for that, especially when the pretense is so thin. I mean...you've got Thrall, Khadgar, and a bunch of other notable characters with you...something tells me it's all going to work out in the end.

That's just the intro experience, similar to the DK starting zone. It introduces you to the Warlords and other key characters (and if freshly boosted, introduces skills and talents every few quests) before you go to Frostfire/Shadowmoon, which are more traditional leveling zones.

[Teebone]

Shadowmoon is beautiful, but its a bitch and a half to navigate. I voted Frostfire.

[thottstation]

I look forward to visiting Frostfire... once. After the quests are done, afk in capital. No doubt the zone designers know this. After all... Vash'jir, anyone?

[Goretex]

I'm a sucker for snowy places, Frostfire Ridge and Bladespire look absolutely amazing!

- - - Updated - - -

IMO the soundtrack of Frostfire is AMAZING. One of the better soundtracks i've heard in a long long time. (My favorite will probably always be the Terokkar Forest music when the organ and violins set in; shivers any day every day).

That said though. I find Shadowmoon to be the better looking zone. It looks really diverse and flat out beautiful. The swampy area's with the showers of willow branches cascading down. The lush dark green / purple grasslands remind me of striding across mulgore for the first time and seeing the cliffs of thunderbluff show up in the distance. The diversity is also in the details. The small purple flower fields and the small fences, the pathways and the trees really break up the land. Making it seem vibrant and alive. The architecture that is applied here also adds to that, it blends in yet still stands out.

Frostfire ridge is more rigid. There is only so much you can do with a rocky snowy landscape; but I feel from the screenshots that the zone simply lacks some appeal and diversity.
We've had snowy landscapes before and a lot of them always seem to have a hard way of setting themselves apart (although some zones really do, like Stormpeaks). And FFR seems to be little different; they tried to use the rocks to break things up, but in the end they make it seem even more dull.

It basically comes down to this:
When I see Shadowmoon I really want to go there and run around, check out the small parts on the map.
With Frostfire I feel like I'll have seen most of the zone after I spend 5 minutes in there. Although I guess at least the soundtrack will keep me entertained for a while ^^

I feel the totally opposite, SMV looks ok yeah but I wouldn't want to spend most my time there. I love snowy places with mountains and harsh environments, and primative and barbaric buildings.

[Rayaleith]

I am horde but SMV and the ally garrison are so much prettier, that it is not even funny. I understand that horde structures were always more "rough" style but this is too much. Anyway, we'll see as we move on. For the time being I've made a lock in both ally and horde to see both. And to be fair, I was not able to see level 2 town hall in horde, since with the Alchemy lab bug I cannot make any progress.

[Army Dreamer]

What starting zone is your favorite?

Ehmm, we didn't play it yet.