Can we talk about how good the new cata level zones are ?

[ArenaDk]

I recently started leveling a voidelf to get the heritage armor. And holy shot the cata zones are amazing. It never feels dull or repeating to level in a zone and now that we can choose we’re to level it’s just one ride of joy. Iam sad that I soon will hit level 60 and have to level in tbc and woltk.

You can say everything you want about cata but the new leveling zones were a gift by god. It just feels as so much love was put into them. I wish the newer zones could be like them.

Tbc woltk rework when blizz?

[Zantera]

I think most would agree it was one of the best things with Cata, how it breathed life into an old outdated world and made things a lot better.

[Deleted]

Oh i'm not sure it made things "a lot better". It improved the leveling experience, but it came at the cost of end-game.

[Highelf]

Cata redesigns are hit and miss with me. I understand that a LOT of time was put in to updating the old zones in the form of questing and the looks. But some of it I just didn't really like. Darkshore for one was a huge miss for me, I miss Auberdine and the overall subtle dangerous feel that it had in vanilla AND the music!

Cata redesigns added a lot more streamline linear questing. For some zones it worked, like Duskwood and Stonetalon. But for others I didn't really care for it, like Westfall. Don't get me wrong I do like the murder mystery linear quest that's in Westfall, especially the first time I did it, but I didn't like the removal of a lot of the other quests, and especially HATE that whirling thing in the middle of zone.

[Celarent]

Different strokes and all that, but Cataclysm 1-60 for me was a big lesson in the charm of imperfection. Loch Modan, particularly, was a "red zone" for restructure but I immediately missed the seaforium chain and party-level ogre quests. Underleveled journeying through Arathi was way cooler in hindsight. Also -- Old World narration was serious and expansive, whereas a lot of Cata stories were glibly self-referential or on-the-nose spoofs. And I couldn't go past Astranaar without pushing forward the initial phase!

[lonely zergling]

If you like over the top quest expierences like csi westfall story or redridge rambo story then more power to you. Bascially all zones contain pop culture references in cata. I prefer the true rpg like zones of pre cata where I didnt punch the final boss of the game at level 30 in some "fun" quest.

[Venziir]

Eh, some were improved, some were worsened and others didn't change one bit.

[Dalheim]

Different strokes and all that, but Cataclysm 1-60 for me was a big lesson in the charm of imperfection. Loch Modan, particularly, was a "red zone" for restructure but I immediately missed the seaforium chain and party-level ogre quests. Underleveled journeying through Arathi was way cooler in hindsight. Also -- Old World narration was serious and expansive, whereas a lot of Cata stories were glibly self-referential or on-the-nose spoofs. And I couldn't go past Astranaar without pushing forward the initial phase!

They completely ruined Loch Modan imo.

Was my second zone I ever did on a trial account in TBC, and to this day Dun Morogh and Loch Modan are my favorite zone, just... Loch Modan was destroyed. :C

[Exkrementor]

The new zones are pretty good.

But the revamped old zones that came with cata are fucking atrocious.

[Video Games]

I was really excited, and cata is my second fav expansion, but weve had cata quests for almost 9 years now so im tired of them.

[Koward]

HATE that whirling thing in the middle of zone.

Whirling things are the absolute worst landscape-destroyer things of Cataclysm. The tornado in Westfall, another tornado in Darkshore, the tentacles in Twilight Highlands.. I am sure I forgot some.
Plus they appear in the background of many completely unrelated cutscenes which ruins them.

[Kathranis]

Iam sad that I soon will hit level 60 and have to level in tbc and woltk.

Back before the Legion world event, I had like a dozen characters stuck between level 58-65 because I couldn't stand leveling through Outland again.

I really wish they had adjusted the level scaling so that Cataclysm endgame zones were 60-70, Pandaria & Outland were 70-90, and Northrend & Draenor were 80-100.

Then people who really like the old school stuff can play through BC and Wrath content from levels 70-100, and everyone else can just play through the actual linear timeline of the story up to max level (Cata 1-70, MoP 70-85, WoD 85-100, Legion 100-110, BFA 110-120).

[Toho]

Are you kidding?
From the Alliance perspective it was absolutely terrible.

[McNeil]

The revamped Cata zones are very hit & miss. Zones like Silverpine Forest and Stonetalon Mountains are amazing to level in. But a lot of other zones like the Plaguelands, Thousand Needles and the Barrens are a lot worse than their Classic version.

I like that they are more narratively driven with better leveling pacing, but they are also a lot more linear which isn't a good thing for a game with a huge open world where you hardly have to travel and explore anymore.

[Kathranis]

But a lot of other zones like the Plaguelands [...] are a lot worse than their Classic version.

Maybe it's just been too long, but my recollection of Plaguelands and Silithus in Classic were that they were basically just zones to grind out levels by killing mobs. I know EPL had some quests, but most of them were like... kill 20 plaguehounds, kill 20 grubs, kill 20 bats...

The new EPL questline with the caravan is actually one of my favorite questlines in the game because the caravan mechanic has this interesting way of taking what's actually a pretty small zone, and making it feel like it has a really huge scope. Progressing from one hub to the next, meeting new characters, etc., gives it a real feeling of adventure that you rarely get in WoW, and it makes you feel like a small piece in a much larger world.

[kronides]

Eh, I don't like Cataclysm, especially what it did to the world and questing. What you see as positives I see as major negatives. Cataclysm made the game too overtly theme-parkish, not that that is "wrong" if that's what you want, I just preferred it as it was before.

[kaid]

I think most would agree it was one of the best things with Cata, how it breathed life into an old outdated world and made things a lot better.

It let you ride a flying motorcycle and punch death wing IN THE FACE!

[Shelly]

I actually think they need a Cataclysm 2.0.

Maybe not restructure so many zones and write and put in new quests, but as many people have noted there's a lot of silliness in the Cataclysm redesign that just doesn't jive with the later new zones - Hyjal, Highlands, etc - and it throws off the tone of the game. A lot of people say that MoP was childish and Kung Fu Panda, but pound for pound Cataclysm had more silly quests in it than any other expansion.

A fun quirky quest every now and again is fun and interesting, but not so hot to do over and over.

Also at this point they've redone the leveling flow so we can really skip a lot of stuff if we want and choose where to go, not to mention that we are most definitely in a post-cataclysm world. This should be reflected in the zones themselves and beyond that I'm really not a huge fan of set pieces that don't matter. If there's a giant tornado in the middle of a zone then it should matter. You definitely shouldn't be able to walk through it with no effects.

[Deleted]

What they did to Thousand Needless is unforgivable. Once a region you couldn't wait to go to level (especially that race part), now a region you want skip on every alt you level.

[Dhrizzle]

Maybe it's just been too long, but my recollection of Plaguelands and Silithus in Classic were that they were basically just zones to grind out levels by killing mobs. I know EPL had some quests, but most of them were like... kill 20 plaguehounds, kill 20 grubs, kill 20 bats...

The new EPL questline with the caravan is actually one of my favorite questlines in the game because the caravan mechanic has this interesting way of taking what's actually a pretty small zone, and making it feel like it has a really huge scope. Progressing from one hub to the next, meeting new characters, etc., gives it a real feeling of adventure that you rarely get in WoW, and it makes you feel like a small piece in a much larger world.

Tirion gave out the super grindy quests in EPL (which were great for leveling) but once they were completed you got the quests to redeem his son Taelan who had joined the Scarlet Crusade. EPL also had the legendary Little Pamela/Darrowshire chain, the ghostbusters/Egan's blaster quests and the amusing chain from Smokey LaRue which has some of the best cinematic moments from Vanilla as you blow up a bunch of plaguetowers.There's also bits of lore about the elf/troll wars prior to the scourge invasion and a bit of background on the Scarlet Crusade.