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  1. #1

    What zones did cataclysm do right and wrong?

    With classic out and everyone being able to see all the zones in their pre-cata version once again, it occurred to me that I preferred some of these in the vanilla version but also realised cata improved many in others.

    The ones that stand out as being ruined imho are:
    1. Redridge Mountains
    2. Thousand Needles
    3. Eastern Plaguelands
    4. Tanaris
    5. Alterac Mountains (basically removed and next to no quests or lore there anymore).
    6. Loch Modan

    While the improved ones are:
    1. Silverpine Forest
    2. Hillsbrad Foothills
    3. Duskwood
    4. Searing Gorge
    5. Stonetalon Mountains

    What do you think? I'll edit in reasons later or in comments if there are questions. Just had the thought on the bus home!

  2. #2
    I enjoy the Cata version of Redridge more than the Classic one. Hillsbrad, so far, is probably my favorite revamped zone (except for that awful stag meat quest). I've only done Stonetalon as Alliance and didn't like it.

    Thousand Needles & Azshara are in the middle. I hate what they did to the aesthetic of Azshara, but I can't deny it's one of the better questing zones (and I love the rocketway). I think I would've liked new Thousand Needles if it weren't Thousand Needles. The questing isn't bad, but they destroyed one of my favorite Classic zones to do it.

    Worst for me is Darkshore. They absolutely butchered that zone both figuratively and literally. Even if the questing were top notch (it's not) traversing the terrain is such a pain in the ass to not make it worth it. Frankly, I haven't really enjoyed any Kalimdor zone I've done as Alliance so far. They all range from mediocre to awful with several arguably not being much better than they were in Classic. There are still quite a few I haven't done in EK (as either faction) so I can't comment on those yet.
    Last edited by Lane; 2019-12-20 at 06:16 PM.
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  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Rioriel View Post
    Redridge #1 ruined? You’re fucking broken dude.
    Oh yeah because the questline turning into one bad Rambo reference is so fucking great, man.

    rEmEMbEr WhEn hE KnIfEd tHaT DrAGoN DuDe!?

  4. #4
    Legendary! Pony Soldier's Avatar
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    The biggest areas I had issues with were Darkshore, Thousand Needles, and Barrens.

    Darkshore was completely ruined. Blizzard overdid it with that zone and made it such a pain in the ass to travel around in that it is no longer fun to quest there. I mean it was never that interesting to quest there in the first place but they somehow managed to make it absolutely unplayable for me. Fucking horrible place to quest.

    Thousand Needles used to be interesting because it was like questing in the Grand Canyon. Now that it's all flooded it's become an area I really couldn't care less about anymore. Now it's just a bunch of platforms connected by bridges and you constantly need a boat to travel around unless you want to swim.

    Barrens isn't so bad but that gash that splits it in half is fucking stupid. I haven't been there in a while so maybe it's changed but I remember it being such a pain in the ass to get to Southern Barrens. Since there was no bridge to cross on I just jumped down to my death so that I can resurrect and run up the narrow path they have on the other side of the cliff. Then I remember there being a small bridge that gets you to the other side but it was so out of the way. It's just really inconvenient whe nyou just want to go south and you don't have flying.

    Thing is I wouldn't have a problem with most of these landscape changes if Blizzard implemented features that made ground travel less frustrating. Like adding more grappling hook points in zones like Darkshore and Thousand Needles. I thought that was a great system that had going in Stormheim and it actually made ground travel fun. I don't understand why Blizzard implements these kinds of cool new features in the game and then never uses them again.
    - "If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black" - Jo Bodin, BLM supporter
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  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Rioriel View Post
    Redridge #1 ruined? You’re fucking broken dude.
    And hillsbrad being blight bombed is an improvement ? this dude's bonkers

  6. #6
    Improved:

    Silverpine forest

    Stayed basically the same in a good way:

    Winterspring
    Elwynn forest
    Arathi Highlands
    Duskwood (though truthfully it's still a lesser version of the original)

    Ruined:

    Basically everything else

    Really really ruined to the point that I resent blizzard for it:

    Lavavale (ashenvale)
    Smashed shore (darkshore)
    Gobzshara (Azshara)
    Thousand Needles

    My issue with the revamp was so many zones were needlessly Smashed up or had their whole Atmosphere/theme ruined and the rest were either turned into massive memes like redridge or lesser versions of the originals like Feralas or Duskwood.

    Many of the old zones were simply better. I would love for them to take another crack at it and hopefully treat the zones with the respect they desever rather then acting like a kid smashing the sand castle they built for the lulz like they did in the Cata revamp

    But it will never happen.

    Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

  7. #7
    Crazy how opinions work.

  8. #8
    Thousand Needles is the only one I recall thinking was worse after the revamp.

    The cata 60-70 zones were awful. Honor marks to the underwater zone for at least trying something new.

  9. #9
    Old God Soon-TM's Avatar
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    Improved:

    • Hillsbrad (minus the stupid Plants vs Zombies minigame).
    • Blasted Lands.
    • Burning Steppes.

    Ruined:

    Basically everything else, but the most remarkable !@#$ups are:

    • Redridge.
    • Westfall.
    • Ashenvale.
    • Barrens.
    • 1k Needles.

    Aka some of the most iconic zones in the entire game.
    Quote Originally Posted by trimble View Post
    WoD was the expansion that was targeted at non raiders.

  10. #10
    I thought this was about the 80-85 Cata zones.

    I really wanted to rant about Uldum being 50% Indiana Jones reference. God damn, Cataclysm was bad with its references..

  11. #11
    Field Marshal Resident Rump's Avatar
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    The gnome and troll starting areas were both an improvement, but any zone they wrecked to "make it more interesting" actually degraded it in the end.

    Since they are fixing the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, they might as well fix those Cata damaged zones too.

    I liked the new zones they added during Cata for the most part, but I just wish the Indiana Jones thing in Uldum wasn't half the zone. The other half had interesting lore though.

  12. #12
    I only care about Duskwood and that seemed more or less the same with slight differences. Badlands seemed more fun though, because "I'M GUNNA PUNCH DAT DRAGON IN DA FACE!"

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Yarathir View Post
    I thought this was about the 80-85 Cata zones.

    I really wanted to rant about Uldum being 50% Indiana Jones reference. God damn, Cataclysm was bad with its references..
    Uldum was fun to me, and this is from someone that doesn't even like Indiana Jones. It was funny. Vashj'ir was headache inducing to me.

  13. #13
    I love Western Plaguelands. The Music espacially. So underrated.



    I hate Thousand Needles, but not for the quests, those are fine. I just miss the classic aesthetics.

    I love to level
    Silverpine -> Hilsbrad -> WPL -> EPL (...)
    Last edited by FuujCraft; 2019-12-20 at 10:50 PM.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Lane View Post
    I enjoy the Cata version of Redridge more than the Classic one. Hillsbrad, so far, is probably my favorite revamped zone (except for that awful stag meat quest). I've only done Stonetalon as Alliance and didn't like it.

    Thousand Needles & Azshara are in the middle. I hate what they did to the aesthetic of Azshara, but I can't deny it's one of the better questing zones (and I love the rocketway). I think I would've liked new Thousand Needles if it weren't Thousand Needles. The questing isn't bad, but they destroyed one of my favorite Classic zones to do it.

    Worst for me is Darkshore. They absolutely butchered that zone both figuratively and literally. Even if the questing were top notch (it's not) traversing the terrain is such a pain in the ass to not make it worth it. Frankly, I haven't really enjoyed any Kalimdor zone I've done as Alliance so far. They all range from mediocre to awful with several arguably not being much better than they were in Classic. There are still quite a few I haven't done in EK (as either faction) so I can't comment on those yet.
    this could be just nostalgia for me but man hillsbrad was my favorite lvling zone pre cata,rly dislike the changes

    I like the desolace change

  15. #15
    Stood in the Fire SynDethroc's Avatar
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    At first glance, thought this thread was about the zones introduced. Since I'm in that mindset anyway, Uldum is without-a-doubt my favorite zone in the game; the tol'vir are an amazing race that I wish they'd expand upon more, vast dune sea zones are the BEST, and I love Indiana Jones. As for the zone that Cata did 'wrong', I guess you could say Vashj'ir (though certainly not because of the visuals, which were INCREDIBLE). Also, I personally was not a fan of Deepholm, or really Hyjal for that matter; don't know if it's just because it's been so long since I've leveled through them, but as I remember I was very bored in those zones.

  16. #16
    Uldum
    Could have been so great, instead we got a run on joke
    Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
    wE doN't kNoW wHaT pLaYeRs WaNt FoR cHarAcTeR CrEaTiOn MoDeLs

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Resentless View Post
    With classic out and everyone being able to see all the zones in their pre-cata version once again, it occurred to me that I preferred some of these in the vanilla version but also realised cata improved many in others.

    The ones that stand out as being ruined imho are:
    1. Redridge Mountains
    2. Thousand Needles
    3. Eastern Plaguelands
    4. Tanaris
    5. Alterac Mountains (basically removed and next to no quests or lore there anymore).
    6. Loch Modan

    What do you think? I'll edit in reasons later or in comments if there are questions. Just had the thought on the bus home!
    1. How dare you I love Rambo Mountains.
    2. Again how dare you there was nothing interesting there. The salt flats had like 4 boring kill quests.
    3. Yet again how dare you I love the caravan questline, even if I do miss the Tirion questline. At the least I don't think it was worse, we gained and lost from this one. Still one of my top 1-60 zones.
    4. Can't really remember anything major from either except we now don't have to grind for the noggenfogger elixir unlock with that one awful quest, so it was a net gain.
    5. Alterac Mountains had quests?
    6. Still mostly forgettable but overall quest design is vastly improved. Another I'd put by Tanaris as "the original was so bland that mediocre is an upgrade."

    Two I'd add are Darkshore and Ashenvale, which were hit heavily by the Cataclysm, turning many of their quests from "kill these fairly ordinary native problems" like Teldrassil into "fighting elementals and Twilight's Hammer". I miss the serenity, even if I think them being all torn up looks neat in its own way and god I loved seeing Malfurion in that tornado.
    Last edited by Powerogue; 2019-12-20 at 11:41 PM.
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  18. #18
    Titan Grimbold21's Avatar
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    Considering the revamp removed all the elite mobs areas, any area that lost them in the aftermath.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Grimbold21 View Post
    Considering the revamp removed all the elite mobs areas, any area that lost them in the aftermath.
    the elites were removed since tbc if i recall

  20. #20
    Titan Orby's Avatar
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    Redridge was a mess, I would agree with that one, the zone basically became a Rambo parody. I am okay with little Easter eggs like the vanilla Linkin storyline in Un'Goro but having a whole zone just be giant joke wasnt cool.

    Also thank god you didn;t mention the new zones from Cataclysm, because I could give you an essay on why I hated Uldum (for similar reasons and more) :P

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