What expansion had the most epic entrance?

[Willias]

Alliance boat ride into the Howling Fjord was my personal favorite. Kind of lame though that the Horde didn't get anything nearly that cool. The Horde zeppelin into Borean Tundra I think was supposed to be similar, but it just isn't the same, and it's only interesting if the Nerubians start attacking the base shortly after you get there.

Burning Crusade's Dark Portal is probably the best overall, simply because it was the same for both sides.

[Paula Deen]

It really is a shame that OP managed to not only spell "The" in Jade Forest wrong, but not many people voted for it. It was not my favorite, but it was damn close. The intro for the Alliance and Horde was awesome and I hope WoD can even try and top it.

[Kaeth]

The first boat ride into Howling Fjord or Borean Tundra (the latter slightly less so than the former) on day one of Wrath of the Lich King. The boat ride to Vash'jir was also pretty epic, but it could be missed entirely (along with the whole zone) by taking the alternate leveling path through Mount Hyjal -- an initially less "new and cool" but overall much more enjoyable experience, in my opinion. Spending 4+ hours underwater gets old after about the first 32.33 (repeating, of course) seconds.

[Drilnos]

Vashj'ir for me, with Jade Forest in second place and HFP in third. In crossing the Dark Portal into HFP I never felt like there was any real danger there. Sure there was a demon army way down the steps, but it was like a set piece - it never interacted with you. Plus the zone itself is one of the ugliest in the game, apart from the sky. Whereas in entering Vashj'ir you get bodily yanked off the boat by a giant squid, captured by naga, rescued by a shaman and deposited in the single most beautiful zone the game's ever had. Jade Forest, at least Horde-side, also had that element of danger, that you were a part of the action and had to deal with it as opposed to fly over it.

I never entered Northrend as an Alliance, but as Horde, from both Borean and HF, both entrances were pretty boring. You step off the zeppelin into a base that's already constructed, with pre-existing defensive positions and not much of a view to speak of. Most interesting part of it was seeing the Forsaken had finally developed their own architecture.

[TheWindWalker]

I'm rather confused about something. I didn't start until halfway through Wrath so were the boatrides different at the start of the expansion? Otherwise it's just another boatride with no dialog, cutscene or emphasis beyond "you've taken this path dot dot dot" on the map. Pandaria and Hyjal/Vashj'ir at least had a whole "lose control of your character and behold the events as they unfold" effect.

[Drobu]

Hellfire. Stepping through the portal looking at the zone before you, then turning to the sky. Amazing.

[championknight]

Hellfire, no contest. All out war right in front of you, death and destruction raging all over and constant reinforcements of Alliance/Horde almost like scene from a beach invasion landing

Howling Fjord is a good, less hectic alternative however

[Paulosio]

I'd be very curious to know of the people who voted for the Jade Forest, when they all started playing... because while it wasn't bad by any stretch, it doesn't stick in my mind the way the Howling Fjord did.

Don't think many will have a good memory of it simply because it was effectively broken when the xpac released due to the number of people trying to use the gunships at the same time. I spent about 1 hour trying to do the gunship quest and got nowhere... I eventually gave up and played through the panda levelling area instead which was actually really fun.

[Deleted]

defo not hellfire. i walked into that place & my 1st thought was "what is this shit?".
although i really enjoyed wrath, i think my fave would have to be pandaria.
loved it from day one & still enjoying it now.

[TheWindWalker]

Hellfire, no contest. All out war right in front of you, death and destruction raging all over and constant reinforcements of Alliance/Horde almost like scene from a beach invasion landing

That's actually what I liked about Jade Forest. You're literally, as far as I know for the first time, dragged out to a battlefront and told by your faction's commander "There Alliance/Horde have come to these shores and we will not tolerate it. Destroy their battlements, kill their soldiers and push them back into the sea." And instead of just dropping you down and you whack things until the quest dings they give you vehicles and then a variety of complications pop up because of the "indigenous people" AND THEN the Sha bit happens and you have to see one of your own commanders being taken over by a supernatural force before a local pulls it back out of them and points out "this isn't defense or justice or just a conflict, you are murdering people you hate in a land that is not your own."

[Goondicker]

Burning Crusade was cool going through the Dark Portal, but nothing can compare to the *Alliance* entrance to Howling Fjord.

So for Horde: TBC, and for Alliance: Wrath.

[hablix]

Walking through the Dark Portal to the demon battle scene beneath the crazy Outland sky and intense musical score, after so much time spent toiling in "vanilla" Azeroth, was by far the most epic expansion intro for me, and one of the most epic moments in the game really. In contrast, Wrath's intro was probably the most muted.

Mists' intro would probably be 2nd after Burning Crusade's, and is probably the model they should follow for every expansion going forward. By this I mean the opening quests and cut scenes where we first land in Pandaria, and discover the corrupting sha force and etc. It can't really beat those first breathless minutes stepping through the Dark Portal but it's still a very good opener in its way.

[glowpipe]

mop would have been good if it wasnt for the fact that the servers strangled ppl irl. took up to 30 min to accept a quest

[Deleted]

Burning Crusade by faaaaaaaar, I almost came. :|

[Breccia]

The Jade Forest tied best to the rest of the expansion and its storyline, so it gets my vote.

Props to the Vashjir shipwreck (complete with "Thralls Balls!") and that moment in Hellfire when you first hear the roar of a fifty-foot freaking robot RIGHT BEHIND YOU HOLY CRAP RUN!

[Retaenam]

Been playin since late BC. I'd say MoP. <3

[Sumatran]

For me, it was the Alliance side boat ride into Howling Fjord hands down. Nothing has even come close to it. That was back when Blizz could set the tone without relying on cut scenes.

100% agreed. So fucking epic. And yes, I have been playing since vanilla, and the dark portal is 2nd, not close, not far, but a solid 2nd. The rest is all meh.

[Orby]

While not a good expansion "Cataclysm - Vashj'ir" was probably really great as it really submersed you into he zone you were going into. It wasn't just like hoping into a new area, you we're literally dragged into it. and one of the first moments where I was feeling a big "WOW" moment as you actually saw yourself in the event too. Really great introduction to a great zone to a horrible expansion. I haven't been sucked into going somewhere like that before or after that expansion.

I guess the whole portal opening on the TBC launch with myself going through the Dark Portal and then appearing on this massive stair of Destiny was pretty epic

But I am going to have to go to my early pick on this one. (Vashj'ir)

It was just the better introduction and was glad I chose that zone over Mount Hyjal whose introduction was just plain horrible, riding a badly voiced dragon through the zone with nothing but a theme park ride scenario and thrown off at the end was just very boring.

[papajohn4]

As a zone, it was Howling Fjord As a event before expansion it was TBC.

[Kisho]

Vashj'ir has my vote for best zone in the entire game, best questing experience, best start to an expansion; I could go on. Brilliant story, brilliant zone, absolutely love it.

MoP was pretty good, but dampened by the ridiculous lag during that first quest. So I ended up levelling my Monk first, so that's what I associate with MoP's start. The Pandaren starting zone is good, don't get me wrong, but it's nothing compared to Vashj'ir.