How do you like the zones not being attached?

[BetrayedOf52]

Now that we have all played shadowlands for awhile, how are you guys liking the fact the zones are not connected with each other unless you go back to the "portal" room in Oribos. Imo it makes the world feel a lot smaller than usual... but I think we will really notice it when flying is introduced and you can't fly over to the next zone most likely without heading back to town.

[Vampyrr]

Eh I just fly from one zone to the other and go get a snack or use the bathroom en route

[Zorachus]

Fucking hate it. LOL

No really I think it's a terrible design idea. Didn't like the two islands in BfA either, always had to have a load screen using the boat, makes the game feel less open world and not connected.

[Masternap]

Terrible, I hate it. Shadowlands feels so small, and flying is going to be annoying as hell. People also hated it with Cataclysm, in fact it was one of the main criticisms everyone had. I have no idea why they did it again.

[sam86]

i don't like it at all, feeling forced, extending time for no reason
probably to make ignore fact that even BFA had more zones than SL, i think SL has the least zones with what seems lowest effort since ages (I still like SL, but zones design is really bad)

[ZazuuPriest]

its awful. the aesthetics of this expansion are the worst they have ever been in this game. Every zone is monotone af

Once we get flying were still likely to have to take a FP through oribos to get to the other zones. That in and of itself makes this entire expansion worse than WoD (hyperbole)

[Clone]

I don't mind it, but not like how we have it now. I think it would be better for world building if zones are presented as a small region in a bigger landmass.

[Pratt]

It's terrible. I'm confident it has something to do with development "efficiencies."

[Oneirophobia]

It was kind of cool at first but it's kind of sunk in how small the zones are, there's only 4, and flying between them is a little annoying.

At least Ardenweald feels a bit bigger due to there being forest you can just barely make out in the fog along the border, Bastion does this too to a lesser extent with the floating buildings in the skybox, but Revendreth and Maldraxxus feel super tiny. Maldraxxus in particular is mostly mountain or empty. I'm okay with lots of aesthetic emptiness the way Hellfire Peninsula and Jade Forest work, but Maldraxxus feels like a timeless isle sub zone.

[Ratyrel]

I already disliked BfA being split across two islands; SL is just even worse in that regard, especially as the zones have little visual variation. Bastion changes its colourscheme a little from south to north, Revendreth has bits and pieces that are different like the bleached zone and the Endmire, but overall they're pretty samey. I hope the covenants ally to an extent that we can use the travel networks of the other covenants further down the line, as going through Oribos is tedious.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

While it's annoying in-game to travel between the zones I do like them in lore with them being their own separate realms.

[KOUNTERPARTS]

I don't really mind. It's only the super casuals that have voiced disdain for it, as they only have limited time to play and I suppose half of it is spent flying.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Not a fan.

I prefer connected zones that you can fly between/look into one from the other. SL zones are meant to be their own realms, I get it, but they still feel hella disconnected.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't really mind. It's only the super casuals that have voiced disdain for it, as they only have limited time to play and I suppose half of it is spent flying.

I'm by no means a "super casual" and I dislike it. A lot.

[McNeil]

I hated it from the beginning. It takes away the ''world'' in World of Warcraft, and from a gameplay perspective its really annoying to travel around and constantly face loading screens. I get that it makes sense to be this way from a lore perspective but having at least a couple more transportation networks to the other zones wouldn't have hurt. Also the zones feel very small for as few there are. As much as I hated BFA, at least both continents looked beautiful and I loved exploring and questing for both factions.

[LemonDemonGirl]

Awful. Boring as hell, and I pretty much just tab out when I'm flying lol

[infinitemeridian]

No and it speaks to a larger problem with the expac that is the world lacks any sort of cohesion or culture. At least in KT / Zandalar, you'd find patterns among the zones, things that worked with each other.

Everything is so isolated and segmented, it's like 4 different games.

[Jujudrood]

They are 4 different, and largely empty, islands that are legit not related in any capacity, so yeah, kinda weird.
Each zone was kinda cool the first couple times around, but then none of them are 'town hubs' of sorts, so they are just quick pit stops for WQs or a boss, stuff like that.
Covenant sanctum are locked to only that covenant, so there's no real 'town' feeling in any of them from having others around, then you have oribos, which is kinda just ... there.
Of course there's also the Maw, which I guess counts as a zone/part of the world, but also not.
It's just all, I dunno, completely disjointed with no interconnecting themes or elements that make them truly stand out while also being part of a "greater whole".
/shrug

[RaoBurning]

I don't mind the physical isolate so much as having to fly through Oribos to get from one zone to another every single time. Though the zones themselves feel very... disjointed, I guess? Maldraxxus less so, but definitely the other three. Like they were designed with flight in mind from day 1 so you didn't get stuck trying to find a weird path up and around a mountain in Bastion but oh no there's a giant ass pit in the way, but knowing damned well we wouldn't get it until 9.1 at the absolute earliest.

I dunno. Seems like they didn't put as much polish on the zone design as normal. I talk shit about WoD all day every day, but at least there's stuff to look at when I fly over it.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I don't really care about it, but I dislike how they are connected. I would have preferred a more tangible connection, like proper instant portals instead of the stupid slipstream ride. It feels a bit artificial and impractical as far as "the machine of death" goes.

[Zyrinx]

It's shockingly bad imo.

Inconvenience meets lack of immersion. Also no Oribos hearthstone and Flight Masters whistle.

Add it all up and it's the worst travel expansion.