More than just the Four (Five) zones!

[Hexxidecimal]

So I don't know if this goes for all the zones but I want to assure people who are disappointed with the only having a few zones to explore that I feel like there is actually more than just that, only that it's broken up in a slightly odd way.

I'll just make a list here and add to it as others contribute.

Order Halls. All of them non combat areas (unless you include the dummies or the warriors arena) but drip with story and ambiance. None of them are particularly tiny and even though all of them combined doesn't equal an entire zone they are all pretty darn cool. Sure we get Dalaran back but we also get a spot that is, in my opinion way cooler and less annoying than Garrisons.

Helheim, technically an instance, but you do some really cool questing in there as well. It's also pretty sizeable, about a 1/4 - 1/3 of a normal zone.

Eye of Azshara Like Helheim is a dungeon, but is also a fully built island off the coast of Azsuna that exists in an un-instanced form.

As Stormheim is the only zone I have fully quested I am not entirely sure if there are more than this. If you know of more feel free to add to it. Just want to let folks know there is more than just what they have shown since that was a concern I heard on the forums before.

[Kraineth]

Hellheim is definitely nowhere close to 1/4th the size of a regular zone

[Hexxidecimal]

Hellheim is definitely nowhere close to 1/4th the size of a regular zone

No? It seemed like it. Much bigger than the firelands bs we got in Cata at least. It's not like I took solid measurements, I'll have to go wander around in there a bit later.

[Al Gorefiend]

People who think the zones aren't enough will be surprised, I think. They are all full of character and nooks and crannies, they feel very large and full of life. What's better, a single zone with lots to do and explore, or 6 zones like Arathi Highlands that add virtually zero to the game?

[thilicen]

Legion zones in beta felt a lot more packed with content and stuff to explore than anything before for my part. That coupled with world quests, I doubt it will feel small at all.

[Daetur]

I didn't feel like four (five with Suramar) zones was too few while playing the beta.

Honestly, I prefer it- the zones themselves are diverse enough, with enough content and things to discover to not be boring, and fewer, bigger zones means more time spent with the story of that zone, allowing for a more immersive experience where you don't feel like you're just blowing through the Arakkoa or Uldum or Sholazar storyline to never hear about it again, for example.

[Darkguyver2020]

My guess is they trimmed down the leveling experience to put more emphasis on the endgame this time around.
Let's face it. Leveling to cap should only take people a week or two and then it's pretty much forgotten, unless you like to level alts.
Having Suramar as a zone purely for max level characters was a wise decision on Blizzard's part. You won't feel pressured to rush through it and will keep people busy long after they ding 110.

[Shadochi]

We also get the Eye of Azshara island zone where there is a world boss and some other mobs

[Ashkiman]

I played a lot of beta and what I can say is that while it certainly is more interesting than Draenor (more character, far more things to do), world quests are still not a panacea for casual players. World quests are plenty and varied but they will get boring just as dailies in MoP eventually got boring. By the time you hit exalted you will only be doing enough quests for emissary caches and maybe the better AP quests. For those who play a lot, this will keep them busy for 3-4 months. The game is still not going to keep you busy forever if you don't have a group of friends do do dungeons/raids/pvp with.

You expect it to keep you busy for the rest of your life? 3-4 months before first patch, then comes first patch which adds more content and so on

[Deleted]

I played a lot of beta and what I can say is that while it certainly is more interesting than Draenor (more character, far more things to do), world quests are still not a panacea for casual players. World quests are plenty and varied but they will get boring just as dailies in MoP eventually got boring. By the time you hit exalted you will only be doing enough quests for emissary caches and maybe the better AP quests. For those who play a lot, this will keep them busy for 3-4 months. The game is still not going to keep you busy forever if you don't have a group of friends do do dungeons/raids/pvp with.

And this is exactly what is wrong with the community.
Vanilla did not keep me busy forever, what kept me busy is me raiding 6 nights a week and farming mats for the guild to make nature resist and fire resist pots during the day.
Thats not content that kept me busy, that was me trying to keep my server first guild on first place with the help of the other officers.

In TBC I was busy getting all dungeons and reps unlocked for a few weeks then gearing up and then raiding/pvping 6 nights a week.
In WoTLK it was daily's and getting everything unlocked for a few weeks then gearing up and raiding/pvping 5 nigths a week.
In Cata it was daily's and getting everything unlocked for a few weeks and then gearing up and raiding/pvping 3 nigths a week.
In MoP it was DAILY's and getting everything unlocked for a few weeks and then gearing up and raiding/pvping 3 nigths a week.
In WoD I quit because my guild fell apart.

Please tell me what kept you busy every single minute of every day for 2/2.5 years of every expansion because as far as I can tell there was nothing but raid/pvp after the first few weeks of getting all reps/dungeons/starter gear unlocked and ready to go.

[Goshko]

Order Halls. ... drip with story and ambiance. None of them are particularly tiny...

Helheim, technically an instance, but you do some really cool questing in there as well. It's also pretty sizeable, about a 1/4 - 1/3 of a normal zone.

Eye of Azshara Like Helheim is a dungeon, but is also a fully built island off the coast of Azsuna that exists in an un-instanced form.

As Stormheim is the only zone I have fully quested I am not entirely sure if there are more than this. If you know of more feel free to add to it. Just want to let folks know there is more than just what they have shown since that was a concern I heard on the forums before.

While I think the zones of Legions compensate their low quantity with high quality I can't help but make some notes on your points:

Order Halls: We get it, you never played priest. It's ok not everyone has.

Helheim - Its roughly half the size of Orgrimmar or a bit more. A quarter of a zone it ain't. Maybe it looks larger because it's dark.

Eye of Azshara - It's literally the instance sans bosses. Fairly pointless beyond a couple of group world quests and exploring it once.

[Explicit Teemo Nudes]

The priest order hall is like the size of one wing in the Exodar, so no, it is tiny in my opinion.

I can't say what I think about the Legion zones when it comes to end game content/feel, but I think they will feel fine while leveling up.
They are of course very streamlined, very few "hidden" quests - and I think people that just focus on leveling alts will run out of things to do very quickly.

[Goshko]

Helheim is a large subzone essentially; if anyone tries to make a map of Broken isles for the comparison threads he should include it as such. It is nice and moody and it is not related to the instance; it is a separate map altogether.

Order Halls vary significantly. Some are just tiny (Fel Hammer and Acherus, Netherlight too I guess) while some are pretty large (Dreamgrove and Trueshot Lodge are fairly large). Still between all the areas in the order halls, plus the many different areas in the class campaigns and artifact scenarios that are not reused, you certainly get as much space as a zone.

Didn't know that for EoA but unless those pets are a low drop chance it'll be done in the aforementioned one exploration.

Helheim might look large the first time you do it but it really isn't. Atmospheric yes. Large, no.

You might get the space of a full zone if you combine all class halls but you can only access one at a time (except priests get to go to the paladin hall once and vice versa, suck it rest of classes).

[Tenjen]

the best thing about WoD questing was its highly effective use of zone space. From what i've seen Legion has taken that another step further

[Shadochi]

the best thing about WoD questing was its highly effective use of zone space. From what i've seen Legion has taken that another step further

The questing in WoW gets better and better with each expansion, and in WoD it was amazing.
You felt like you actually completed the zone after doing the ending scenario

[Freddiee]

I've said it back in Gamescom in the Megathread; this is an expansion that is best played with a main and 11 alts. If you really want all the content you will want an alt from each class, at least to experience all the artifact quests plus the class campaign. It's just a shame that keeping all those alts will be so freakin hard.

Agreed, which is why I was very happy to discover that I had every class at level 100 except rogue which I am leveling atm (95). Tried a few classes and their artifact intros in the beta. Really really dont want to miss out on any of the epic class quests.

I really think that the process of leveling alts will be really rewarding based on that alone. The backdrop of the class quest.

[Servasus]

I agree with the sentiment, but after I finished Val'Shara specifically, I was left with the feeling of "That's really it?"

Val'Shara seems incredibly tiny. Azsuna and Stormheim seem much larger in comparison when you talk about amount of quests and content in them. I'm still working through Highmountain, so I can't fully comment on it, yet.

But I DID sneak into Suramar at level 105 to go exploring and the place is fucking huge. I am so excited to hit max and go in there and quest.

I guess what I'm saying, though, is that they COULD have done with having 1 more full zone. Even though MOST of the zones are packed full of things to do, they aren't really the largest areas in the game I've ever seen, and especially after finishing VS, I felt very underwhelmed with the amount of quests and content it had to offer.