Most Immersive Zones?

[soulzek]

What are your "favorite" (most immersive) zones in WoW? Disregarding quest efficiency or annoyance.

Classic: Eastern Plaguelands
This zone was intimidating because it was the end game of the end game. EPL was greatly populated with threatening undead and roaming elites ready to end your life. Floating above was the doom fortress, Naxxramas.

TBC: Netherstorm
This is where the devastation of Outland really struck me. The chaotic floating rocks, severe thunder storms, and ambient music sucked me right in. Even outskirt "islands" crawling with ghosts of the past added to the apocalyptic mood.

WOTLK: The Storm Peaks
I really only need to mention two things about this zone that attract me; the music and the battlefield of giants forever frozen in time near the sons of hodir quest hub.

Cataclysm: Vashj'ir
Vashj'ir is almost entirely why I mentioned to exclude gameplay aspects from this list as the 3D disorientation is very much a reality. With that aside, however, I totally felt like I was 10,000 leagues under the sea within this landscape. The underwater caves sealed the deal.

MOP: The Jade Forest
Hozen, Jinyu, and Tigers oh my! There's only so many ways you can design a forest level over and over but this zone definitely feels like its own entity. The lush color scheme along with the jade-oriented operations going on here (statue, mine) add to the theme overall. Also love the music.

[Kuthe]

Classic: Pre-Cata Thousand Needles.
I remember seeing it for the first time, and I was just like 'woah'.

TBC: Shadowmoon Valley.
I love all the hellfire and destruction, and green-ish lava.

WotLK: Icecrown.
All the skeletons and such walking around. Phasing zone.
Alliance and Horde battleships flying above.
Watching the tournament being nothing, to being complete.

Cata: Hyjal.
Didn't really like any of them. But Hyjal was pretty to look at, and the World Tree looked cool-ish.

MoP: Valley of the Four Winds.
Just liked the overall zone. Strange creatures, and the farm.

[Definition]

Classic : Eastern Plaguelands
TBC : Hellfire Peninsula
WotLK : Grizzly Hills
Cata : Twilight Highlands or Uldum
MoP : Townlong Steppes

[Kaleredar]

Classic: Classic overall had really nice "immersive" zones. I guess my favorite one would have to be Dun Morogh; the place felt like a tundrid, wintery mountain valley, with forests that strayed far off into the distance, full of a myriad of cold-weather creatures. I always loved stopping in the Dwarven inn in kharanos to listen to the calm music.

Burning Crusade: Zangarmarsh. Though this zone is hurt a touch by the naga and ogres, this is truly the only zone that feels really "alien" in Outland, with its alien flora and fauna.

Wrath of the Lich King: Just like Classic, I feel that every zone, (even Borean Tundra and Dragonblight in places) succeeded at being immersive. I'd have to say the MOST successful one, however, was Grizzly hills. Great music, great design, huge variety of creatures, numerous storylines... all parts of Grizzly Hills were just excellent.

Cataclysm: I'll have to agree with the OP on Vash'jir. I was never weirded out by the aquatic environments, and the variety and breadth of detail they put into the three vashj'ir zones were just fantastic. It's a shame that it was so conflictedly received; I'd love to see more underwater zones.

Mists of Pandaria: I'll also have to agree with Jade Forest. I'm inclined to say that, all things considered, Jade Forest is the single best zone in the game. From questing breadth, ranging from the Pandaren, to the Horde versus Alliance, to the Hozen/Jinyu, to the Sha... it just covers every single aspect so well. I only wish that Blizzard had revamped every zone (like they did to Jade Forest) to give it the "Jade Forest" treatment; it would have easily made MoP the best expansion.

[Skorpionss]

Classic: Silverpine forest both old and new
TBC: Nagrand, followed closely by shadowmoon
Wotlk: Sholazar
Cata: Uldum
MoP: Krasarang

[Bitehattori]

Zones to me feel immersive when I'm on certain toons
Tauren shaman; Stone-Talon Mountains, The Barrens and old thousand kneedles
Worgen; Gilneas and Duskwood
Orc Warlock; Burning steppes, Searing Gorge, Shadowmoon Valley
Tauren druid: Moonglade, Winterspring and Hyjal

Though Dun Morogh/Ironforge/Loch Modan just feel cozy as fuck. The feel from coming into an inn from the cold just feels good

[lawow74]

Classic: The Barrens(pre-Cataclysm). The wide open spaces and wandering from place to place doing the various quests really struck home the feel of the starkness of the Orcs' new homelands. Climbing up the various hill and mountain sides, exploring the far-flung nooks and crannies as quests led you all across the land in a wide level range left a lasting impression on your game experience, for good or ill.

TBC: Blade's Edge Mountains. The dangerous-looking spires of rock and canyons full of danger, along with the impaled corpses of the black dragons really lent an atmosphere of menace around the area of Gruul's Lair, and the story of Rexxar and the Mok'Nathal, and combating the sons of the Dragonkiller while trying to win the hearts and minds of the local Ogre tribes really stood out. It was also the first zone I remember ever feeling like I made a lasting impact, with the quests to free the enslaved treants and become King/Queen of the Ogres leaving you neutral with the mobs in question.

Wrath: Zul'Drak. The look and feel of the zone, the oppressive atmosphere and death of an empire, along with the Troll music I enjoy so much really set up the quests to combat the Scourge. For the first time I really felt the impact of their presence and the urban warfare ambience of facing off with them alongside the Argent Crusade, while helping the Zandalari try to preserve what was left of the Drakkari, was quite enjoyable.

Cata: Mount Hyjal. The story of this zone was terrific. To me you really felt you were making a lasting impact on things; freeing the Ancients, bringing back Cenarius and culminating in a fight against Ragnaros to drive him back to the Firelands and set up the raid, was an epic experience. A shame the phasing pretty much kills the ability to help friends quest through for the majority of the zone.

Pandaria: Kun-Lai Summit. A great variety of environments combined with some great story threads coming together(opening the way to the Vale, the Shado-Pan and the Yaungol, the setup of the Thunder King and Zandalari)alongside some wonderful musical scores stands out above the other zones, fun as they may be. The Storm Peaks were impressive, but the detail of the Mt. Neverest area overtakes them, I'm afraid.

[ShadowJester]

Classic: Pre Cata Barrens or Stranglethorn Vale. Both were beyond epic and awesome for their size, memorable locations (crossroads and Booty Bay) and the World PvP in both.

TBC: Nagrand, it was the coolest, slightly broken with the floating islands, but still a slice of paradise, lush and welcoming.

WotLK: Grizzly Hills, Just awesome and the most Idk northerny feeling to me, with the huge redwoods and log cabins, plus awesome worgen story lines

Cata: Vashj'ir, SO FRIGGIN AWESOME. I never had a problem with the swimming and questing, and honestly when I think about it, I don't know what people are complaining about.

Mists: Jade Forest, Bamboo forests are epic in their tranquility, plus those rock spires on the coast are such a cool natural feature

[Deleted]

Hunterlands, Nagrand, Grizzly Hills, Uldum, V4W

[Trickname]

Vanilla: Difficult one when thinking about my first leveling experience but I'll go with The Barrens it just felt so massive. A very close second is STV.

TBC: Nagrand

Wrath: Howling Fjord

Cata: Vashj'ir, actually loved the mechanics of the place as well.

Mop: I'll have to go with Jade Forest although I do love the peaks of Kun-lai.

[Beroendet]

Vanilla: Hillsbrad Foothills
TBC: Nagrand
WotLK: Grizzly Hills
Cata: Twilight Highlands
MoP: Townlong Steppes

[Deleted]

Excellent thread, thank you!

Vanilla: Feralas.
This one is difficult for me, as there are many excellent zones - many of which have now lost some of their original charm since the Cataclysm.
I'm gonna have to go with one of the odd ones; the zones that feel large, natural, and genuine without sacrificing any of that for the narrative or 'splash'.
But I'll also quickly mention that I love the desolate areas, like abandoned, grey beaches in the middle of nowhere, or Desolace, etc.


TBC: Nagrand.
Same issue here, as Hellfire, Nagrand, and Zangarmarsh each have a very special feeling and place in my heart.


WOTLK: Grizzly Hills.
... and Howling Fjord. I mean, come on, the zones scream out 'North landscape'. But I also like the Dragonblight, much for the same reasons as I like the other desolate zones of Azeroth.

CATA: Vashj'ir.
I mean, most of the new zones had their charm, definitely. But nothing compares to Vashj'ir. To me, it's a flawed, yet excellent attempt at creating the ultimate immersive zone. You go into another world, and you sever all ties with the rest of Azeroth. Heck, you hardly even bump into players!

MoP: Jade Forest.
None of the zones are really up my alley - they are all a lot more polished than older zones, and have lots of great focus on the narrative, but... They also feel a bit dead. Maybe I'm still exhausted after leveling to 90 back at release. :P

[Feral Camel]

Classic: Stranglethorn Vale - Playing in vanilla on a PVP servers, this was the first zone I felt I had to watch my back.
TBC: Nagrand - I was never a fan of the zones in BC. Nagrand has always stood out in my mind as being impressive and vast.
Wotlk: Borean Tundra - Getting off the boat from SW. Cutting the line and killing spiders straight away. This zone always felt immersive.
Cata: Twilight Highlands - I really enjoyed the storyline in this zone. From the wedding on the alliance side and the building of Krazzworks (Horde)
MoP: Kun-Lai Summit - I love the sudden start of this zone. The town in the middle of a battle. Then recruiting and the Sha always popping about.

[Tauren]

man vanilla has some sick fucking zones. barrens, red ridge, westfall, Elwyn forest, stv, they are all instant classics when i stepped my foot into them. for tbc hellfire was a fun experience but its hard to say it still wasnt that great of a zone. wrath also had some of the best zones in the game

[Yuuki Asuna]

Classic: Winterspring - I thought it was such a beautiful zone :3

Burning Crusade: Hellfire Peninsula - The first area of BC and the one that struck me with awe! I loved the planets and that single little star that glimmers in the sky

Wrath of the Lich King: The Storm Peaks - Amazing zone and great music! It'll always be my final questing zone to get to 80!

Cataclysm: Mount Hyjal - Beautiful zone that has lots of immersion! Loved the questing and details of the area

Mists of Pandaria: The Jade Forest - Probably one of my favorite zones in the entire game! Just beautiful and I'm happy we have to use ground mounts and not fly through this great area

[voxTree]

Vanilla: My favorite pre-Cataclysm was always Tanaris. It was huge, the Caverns of Time were closed up and mysterious (except for those who knew how to sneak in and take a look), the "desert music" was ominous and awesome... I believe they removed that track from new Tanaris, it's still in the game but doesn't play there anymore. Don't like it much anymore now that the whole coastline is screwed up.

BC: Zangarmarsh by far. Can't say much about it, I just loved it.

WotLK: Grizzly Hills. The music is absolutely amazing, and the zone is so varied. It has troll ruins, a really cool long, open coastline, a mountain range, steep hills loaded with trees, rapids, a LOG RIDE. I go there to hang out sometimes still.

Cataclysm: Deepholm. I love caves, having a whole zone be inside a cave is awesome. There are so many different environments in Deepholm. I love the cave sound effects it has too, you can hear things echoing there.

MoP: Kun-lai. The skybox is beautiful and I love the mountains and how the air gets that cold mist effect when you fly through them.

[Mayden]

Can only be duskwood. Had an eerie feeling about it. A small village hidden in the fog. The long walk to the cemetary. The low hanging trees together with the rocks made it that you saw nothing when you left the path. Spiders and worgen everywhere. That big monster that looked like patchwerk that was attacking the guards and the town. A real thrilling pve experience.

[Deleted]

Classic : I don't know why, but there's something with Silithus. As soon as you enter there, you know there's something wrong. I really loved the place when I first get there, there was a "real" sense of danger.

TBC : Nagrand, without doubt. A little paradise in a barren land.

WotLK : Storm Peaks.

Cata : Vash'jir. Stunning zone.

MoP : Dread Wastes. The Klaxxi are awesome !

[Phasma]

Classic: Darkshore, Ashenvale, Stranglethorn Vale, Westfall, Elwynn Forest, Loch Modan, Wetlands, Redridge Mountains, Tirisfal Glades, Mulgore, The Barrens, Thousand Needles (The Shimmering Flats!)

(All Pre-Cataclysm; Hard to choose just one. It may seem like I'm listing all of the zones, but they were really that good.)

BC: Eversong Woods, Zangarmarsh, Nagrand, Terrokar Forest, Hellfire Peninsula

(Again, hard to choose just one.)

WoTLK: Grizzly Hills

Cataclysm: Vashj'ir

Pandaria: The Jade Forest


All for reasons based around aesthetics.

[Soulfighter101]

Classic: Pre-cata Feralas. I remember first going there on my night elf druid, and being sucked into the lore. From the giant looming nightmare dragon, to the towers, to the island south of Feathermoon that was filled with detail and cool architecture. Don't even get me started on how Dire Maul felt the first time stepping in, and how it really did feel like a city, not to mention the arena with cool rares. IMO the only dungeon that even came closed to DM was Marudon. Needless to say, i was angered when horde stepped up presence and made their ugly and destructive settlements there, not to mention they sunk my island and took my dragon. Sadface.

Burning Crusade: Zangarmarsh, though the rest were pretty good too. I really loved the bioluminescent details, the foreign monsters and the unique architecture that is only found in that one zone. The marsh striders were incredible too, and the whole naga storyline was really interesting to say the least.

Wrath of the Lich King: Scholzar Basin, though it barely beats storm peaks. I love the lush and tropic feeling it has, it's like you're on a warm sunny tropical island in the middle of the arctic. I actually felt sad when I got the part where the undead were breaking in, as it was the only zone that didn't have any undead in it except for that breach. DAMN YOU CULT OF THE DAMNED.

Cataclysm: The night elves really got 2 cool lore zones, Hyjal and Vashj'ir. I have to say though, I liked hyjal better, as it brought back all the nature gods and ysera and all the naturey and ethereal coolness of the night elves (can you tell i'm a bit of a night elf die hard?)

Mists of Pandaria: Oddly enough, none of these zones sucked me in. I suppose I'm stuck in the past on that one. If I had to choose though, it'd be Jade Forest. It was definately a unique experience that awed me the first time I leveled through it. From the prince anduin storyline, to realizing that both ally and horde are letting this war make the worst of them, and the coming to terms with sha and what it means for the future of the war.

Out of those five, I still love feralas the most, though any night elf centric zone will always hold a special place for me.