1. Original
2. Wrath
3. TBC
4. MoP
5. Cata
I admit that I may be a bit biased due to nostalgia.
i liked the orginal one the best, the BC one was just a copy with a shinier portal (rehash! BC REHASH! /haters gonna hate)
after that probally Cata, i liked Deathwing on the Stowmwind gates a lot. the WotLK sindragosa one was just annoying and i always raced too log in before she landed.
Burning Crusade will always be the one I go back to in my mind's eye, since it is when I started playing.
Wrath was probably my funnest times in WoW, and while dragons are cool, accidentally leaving it up and getting DRAGON ROARS all night ROAR was less so
Cata, since the main villain is actually shown there.
Also what is with "classic" showing it has a version of Lich King? Is that just what it looks like if you didn't upgrade?
Vanilla, then TBC, then MoP, then Cata, then Wrath (in order of my personal preference).
I really like the contrast between where you are, and where you're headed once you step through that portal. Either that things are grim and the other side looks like a reprieve, or that you're an invader and those bright colors and untouched resources are yours to plunder.
MoP's login screen invites me to explore - discover what's up with those statues, explore the zone (though yes, the color scheme is quite boring, and the the zone itself lacked enough contrast to be stimulating, visually, for me).
Cata, because over the years I've developed a fondness for SW's gates and wall, but honestly I was either inside the town or out in the world. The amount of time I spent looking at the gates, the bridge, and the small entry area were minimal. A big, fiery magic dripping dragon perched on there almost kind of encouraged me to want vengeance, but more important, Sindragosa wasn't shrieking constantly, further damaging her vocal chords. Color scheme wise, rather dull.
Wrath. Stupid freaking dragon. Loved the colors in Icecrown, there just weren't enough other colors to really make the blues, blacks, and whites very meaningful. It was too easy to tune out pretty much the entire image. Didn't inspire me to explore, didn't inspire me to be heroic. The only thing it inspired, was a need to log in FASTER to get the hell away from those "roars."
I appreciate the symbolism from Vanilla, BC, and MoP of a gateway, a portal, an entry point into the game world. Even Cata's log in, despite being over the entry way to SW, was focused on the dragon rather than a passage from outer to inner. If you've never played WoW, you don't know what he's standing on. It just looks like a castle wall. Ooooh, a dragon on a castle wall. Okay. Well, that's what dragons do, right? Attack castles 'n stuff. Wrath's screen you can see ICC in the background, and if you're into Warcraft lore, that's snazzy, but you don't really see anything worth protecting in that screen either. Something menacing to attack. I'm one of those players who wants to know why I'm attacking - am I protecting anything, or am I just blood thirsty? If it's just about bloodlust, well, there's a reason I prefer playing healers.
You are. Anyone who thought other wise apparently hadn't payed much attention to the Azeroth side of the portal - it's up against a cliff side.
Last edited by Chirri; 2013-06-18 at 09:34 PM.
"Bananas, like people, sometimes look different when they are naked." Grace Helbig
checks left,
breaking news!
servers down yayayayayadada. hmm i havent seen those much during MoP. but i have logged on not as much as i did back then.
anyways my vote goes to the TBC screeeny. i started back then.
I think for most people its gonna be when they started playing. I know that is how its gonna work with me! BC for sure.
vanilla & MoP
God the base theme + expac variations are so good. I should really listen to them more often. I love how they can add thematic elements (march of the scourge for wrath, asian elements for mop, etc) and still keep the same base feel/elements.
TBC and Wrath theme took me back.
I'm torn between ICC and BC blahhh
tBC visuals, classic theme.
1. Classic
2 TBC
3. WotLK
Don't like Cata or MoP log-in screens.
Vanilla loading screen excites me the most, but I believe that's due to nostalgia. The option to choose the one you're using would be awesome as variety is (almost) always a good thing.
If you look at the Dark Portal in the blasted lands, it looks like the one on the loading screen. So you are looking from the Blasted Lands into another world.
I don't think the scenery on the other side is meant to be a literal location, though, as Hellfire was already barren and red at the time of Vanilla. I think it's meant to be an abstract representation of us going on a great adventure into a new land. The location is Azeroth, obviously, even if we're also watching from Azeroth.
Read my response above. I actually think it's an abstract version of the Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands, with 'the adventure' as our location on the other side.
original and tbc ones always gave me the feeling that i am going to enter an awesome fantasy world.
I think the "original" Cata login screen with the Twilight Hammer portal was awesome. It fit the theme of the expansion more IMO, but of course Deathwing was a big part of it so I guess that's why they changed it. I've just always liked the "portal into WoW" idea.
Vanilla and wrath give me the chills!
Wrath of the Lich King easily, I remember my first time logging in, and had to sit there listening to the whole song before I hit enter. As for the best looking one? Well, TBC gets that vote easily, but MOP is close behind.