Rating the Feel of TWW Zones

Community General Discussion
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How would you rate how the TWW Zones “felt”?

For me:

  • Isle of Dorn: 5/10
  • Ringing Deeps: 4/10
  • Hallowfall: 11/10
  • Azj-Kahet: 5/10
  • Siren Isle: 2/10
  • Undermine: 7/10
  • Karesh: 7/10

I like dwarves when done well, but the first two zones felt like a side quest to the main story which didn’t really kick in until arriving at the Aegis Wall within Hallowfall when it’s theme kicks in.

Hallowfall is a masterpiece.

Azj-Kahet didn’t feel anywhere near as dangerous or alien as it should have been (too many neutral forces).

Siren Isle is forgettable.

Goblin centric-areas now-a-days feel like they’re constantly breaking me out of my WoW immersion and I dislike them for that, but Undermine really nailed their aesthetic.

Karesh presents itself as a broken, lifeless world far better than Karesh ever did even if it’s mostly Netherstorm 2.0. I’m including the raid and the final boss fight in how this zone feels. The zone feels so appropriately devoid of life that I’m emotionally done with it after completing the main story (epic final raid boss, by the way, which I’m counting into the zone’s score).

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2

Isle of Dorn: 6/10

Pretty standard stuff. Nothing I really love or hate about it.

Ringing Deeps: 7/10

Great cave setting. Looks and feels like a cave. That’s basically it.

Hallowfall: 10/10

I mean…it’s Hallowfall. That is all that needs to be said.

Azj-Kahet: 8/10

Great vibe for the Nerubian zone we never got in Wrath. Very sinister and dark.

Siren Isle: 0/10

Smallest island in existence with no real redeeming qualities. It tried to be a pirate hideout, a monster nest and an elemental storm. It just didn’t really work.

Undermine: 9/10

Nailed the goblin vibe. Ever so slightly too claustrophobic for me though.

Karesh: 4/10

Feels the way it should, but it’s just too empty besides. I want to like it more than I do, but I can’t.

2 Likes
3

I’m torn.

Some zones (Isle of Dorn, Ringing Deeps) I just want to write off as generic zones, but I really can’t. They’re all well made, with the only exception being maybe Isle of Dorn.

The Ringing Deeps they did an excellent job with fauna and overall cavern ambience. Hallowfall was a novel experience and beautifully done zone.

Azj-Kahet I admittedly didn’t spend much time in. I had been completing all of the main and side quests up to that point, but was really just ready to wrap up the campaign and be done with it at that point.

Undermine was fantastic. They killed the city scape feel, and the quests really made the zone feel alive. Not really sold on D.R.I.V.E., but it probably would have been a better experience in a more open area.

Karesh really felt like a throwback to TBC, and the skybox is great. The bright sands with dark surroundings is a bit of an eye strain though.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed them. Isle of Dorn I wish had more memorable/unique surroundings and environment, but the rest have been great in their own rights.

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4

TWW has mostly been a miss for me.
I started TWW back when it first launch, and M+ was so atrocious it drove me to quit the game. I got so bored with the game 1 month in I didn’t even stick around with my guild’s AotC Palace kill - they all quit too.
I recently came back because I’ve been keeping tabs on M+ and it’s in a MUCH better state now, and I’m vastly enjoying it.

Sorry for that little backstory.
My rating is as follows:
Isle of Dorn: 8/10 - I really loved this zone and the scenery
Ringing Deeps: 7/10 - Worlds better than Zaralek
Hallowfall: 11/10 - My favorite zone in the entire game now
Azj-Kahet: 4/10 - Its purpose was really only for Palace
Siren Isle: 0/10 - Absolute filler garbage
Undermine: 1/10 - Tiny, aggro everywhere. Nightmares of Nazjatar
K’aresh: 2/10 - Extemely forgettable, boring

2 Likes
5

based purely on vibe and aesthetics

Isle of Dorn: 5/10
Ringing Deeps: 6/10
Hallowfall: 8/10
Azj-Kahet: 2/10
Siren Isle: 6/10
Undermine: 9/10
Karesh: 8/10

Karesh would be docked heavily if I considered content.

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  • Isle of Dorn: 4/10
  • Ringing Deeps: 8/10
  • Hallowfall: 9/10
  • Azj-Kahet: 7/10
  • Siren Isle: 3/10
  • Undermine: 10/10
  • Karesh: 8/10

The most egregious lack of zone development is Isle of Dorn. They made it almost completely lifeless. There are few hidden chests or elites: the world boss just sort of parked outside Dorn in the grass.

I guess visually it is ok. But so little time spent on making it more lively so it feels underdeveloped.

Karesh is very pretty but kind of dull. Undermine they put a lot of heart and soul into so appreciate that.

Siren Isle is such an afterthought lol. A leftover asset plunked down with little feel for how it fits the rest of War Within. Compare it to Forbidden Reach. But has useful rares for the archival fragments quest.

Hallowfall very pretty but can be difficult to get to.

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Undermine is the peak of TWW so far, many of the rest of the zones, aside from Hallowfall, and maybe Ringing Depths with that brief horror scenario and Speaker Brinthe’s sass… are kinda lackluster, they lack visual flair and a cobwebbed city of spiders is just a giant NOPE for me.

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8

Dorn 4/10, nothing great nothing bad, decent opening zone

Deeps 5/10, I liked the bad guy of the zone cuz he was entertaining with his intro

Hallowfall 4/10, nothing really interesting but their armor designs carried

Azj 8/10, actually pretty good, few lull points

Siren exists/10

Undermine 8/10, would of been 10 is blizz even bothered to mention horde outside of saying they have nothing to do with the zone while glazing alliance

Karesh 5/10, it’s ok

2 Likes
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  • Isle of Dorn: 9/10 - Maybe I’m biased since I’m a fan of dwarves. But I really liked it, both in atmosphere and in lore. Including the hidden extras (texts and things of that sort hidden around).

  • Ringing Deeps: 6/10 - Kinda a boringland, but still not bad.

  • Hallowfall: 10/10 - The first time Beledar shifted from Light to Shadow I was amazed.

  • Azj-Kahet: 7/10 - As a lore nerd, I enjoyed seeing a bit of nerubian culture, as well as the architecture and so on. Something I had been waiting for since Wrath.

  • Siren Isle: 3/10 - Meh. Pretty forgettable, actually.

  • Undermine: 7/10 - Content delving into Goblin lore that the game had been needing for a long time. The zone and the car mechanics were something new and interesting to experience. However, personally, I got tired of it quickly. (I’m not really into “industrial” zones)

  • Karesh: 8/10 - We finally get to know K’aresh, a place that’s been mentioned since TBC. All the lore around it is very rich, and as a lore nerd, I’m satisfied. However, the “Phase-shift” mechanic is a bit “meh” to me.
    The quests are cool and immersive (except the Echo-dome ones, I’m already tired of those)

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10

Isle of Dorn: pastoral settings are my jam. And being a smallish island felt really good (lots of fishing early on). This is still my preferred area to just gather and putter around.

Ringing Deeps: cave atmosphere without feeling claustrophobic. It’s a bit messy for gathering with all the densely-populated nooks. A bit elongated for just getting from A to B though. Still, once I got used to it, it has been a nice place for herb gathering … although a bit crowded with other herbalists.

Hallowfall: I like it, but not as much as many people. I was sad to not be able to explore out across the underground sea or get more answers about Beledar. Herbs on the top of high pillars get a little frustrating. Flame’s Radiance update felt good as a catchup and alts all earning rep felt really, really good. There were some nasty spots while levelling where one could blunder into max-level mobs.

Azj-Kahet: it captured the Neurbian empire vibe very well. I’m glad we were able to wander the city and being able to unlock a lower threat level felt really good. It’s not somewhere I’ve spend a huge amount of time though because dark aesthetics do get me down (and the world quests being hidden without picking up a weekly quest breaks the whole zen of just meandering through the world doing stuff as the mood hits me). Do not like the small PvP-flagging area - it disrupts the joy of exploring and instantly puts me in a bad mood, even though I managed to get away in time.

Siren Isle: awful. It feels both small yet frustrating to navigate. The quests don’t feel enjoyable to do, the secrets feel like they are content for hyperspawn-camping bots. It teases more lore about Beledar but doesn’t really deliver. Did not enjoy the storm phase.

Undermine: junkpunk isn’t my thing aesthetically. The urban content was an interesting approach but didn’t feel very rewarding. I was late to the party because of some real world stuff and still feel behind.

Karesh: the shattered bleak environment is not normally my thing, but there’s a certain charm to flying amongst the splintered islands, I don’t like phase diving, it just feels like a worse world experience on every level. The ecodome has some charm, but not as much as I’d allowed myself to imagine. Overall, it feels like it’s missing something. I’m a bit annoyed at the PvP island for existing in normal mode (if other people really want this I can get over it). Overall, it feels very disconnected from the journey we were on.

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11

All very good.

My biggest issue is the lighting, I guess. The game is filled with glows and light sources that get completely drowned out by the games “sun”. The game needs to be brighter in some places and darker in others. Azj-Kahet would have done much better if it was much darker, just view the place with an Inky Black Potion.

For some reason the game is so muted and grey filtered, it’s really strange.

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12

Based on vibes & appearance:

Isle of Dorn: 9/10 - I like green and dwarf stuff.
Ringing Deeps: 6/10 - better than zaralek, but not a fan of caves in general. Lag.
Hallowfall: 8/10 - again, green and water, felt way less cavern’ish.
Azj-Kahet: 6.5/10 - Lil too dark for my taste.
Siren Isle: 2/10 - Ugh.
Undermine: 0.5/10. I can’t give a complete zero to really anything, but I can’t stand that place.
Karesh: 3/10. Busy work and phase diving. Aesthetically bland.

Dragonflight, with the exception of Zaralek, had superior zones all around, imo.

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  • Isle of Dorn: 5/10 - Nothing special, it feels like we’ve already had 10 other areas with this vibe.

  • Ringing Deeps: 4/10 - It looks like a Zaralek, but I understand it is a large plant/factory/forge

  • Hallowfall: 11/10 -I liked the vibe and aesthetic of the Arathi. Seeing the airships escorting the area and Beledar was quite unique.

  • Azj-Kahet: 8/10 - Interesting, it seems to do justice to the Nerubian Empire we were introduced to in Lk. I liked it

  • Siren Isle: 5/10 - With the potential to foretell future content. It actually looks like one of the BfA expeditions. With Kul Tirans, Mechagnomes, Vrykuls, Pirates, and Nagas.

  • Undermine: 10/10 - By far one of the best areas in the game in a long time. Rich in content, NPCs, and music. It gave me the vibe of Hearststone’s Gadgetzan. I loved it.

Karesh: 5/10 - It reminded me a lot of Korthia, but Kresh is prettier.

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  • Isle of Dorn: 5/10 It was very pretty but felt very empty at times. I loved the feel but I was so lonely. It felt very removed from the issue of the xpac.

  • Ringing Deeps: 7/10 A lot more lively. Not my style but I did like it a lot. Fun dwarf style underground feel.

  • Hallowfall: 50/10 Very beautiful. First time I came into the zone with the big crystal shining and the green plants and grass, I felt so wonderfully happy. It was a nice zone to be in and I felt sad when I had to leave.

  • Azj-Kahet: 2/10 Felt unfinished. There was plenty around but not much to do with it. All of the quests lead no where and the dailies/rep felt pointless and tacked on. It felt like a stage for the main quest only.

  • Siren Isle: 6/10 Was ok. Lots to do. Hated the mount grind. I never finished it as I only got 2 of an item despite doing it constantly. The storm thing seemed unnecessary.

  • Undermine: 9/10 Loved this zone. Felt alive. So much to do although it got too over stimulating quickly. Sad there were not more vehicles to get such as a trike or bike.

  • Karesh: 1/10 It gets a 1 because it could have been nice but the horrible reuse of SL stuff including the horrible lighting was a huge turn off. I’m sad I cant get the treasures etc. but I can’t spend more than 15 mins in the zone before a headache comes on. The whole phase thing was weird and seemed unnecessary. I keep going to world quests only to find out I have to go back to a phase pad to do it. No mount in phase was annoying and I’m not doing some long thing just to mount. Pink for the phase was weird. I would give it a 3 without the horrible lighting.

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15

Me too. But I also really like Hallowfall. Except for that that convoluted daily quest hub where everything is piled on top of one another and timing out and just ack! Its awful!

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  • Isle of Dorn: 7/10 - The layout of the island is pretty good, but it does feel a little uninhabited. I feel like it would have benefited from some more spiders or some other major threat to make why everyone is underground make more sense, also a dense jungle would have been neat. I really like the city hub, and that carries the score i gave it.
    I rather dislike the actual Earthen themselves though. I think they’re quite boring. I wish Bliz made them much larger to differentiate them from existing dwarves and focused less on the women all having beards.

  • Ringing Deeps: 8/10 - I like this one. It has an industrial feel, unique subzones, looks like everything has a functional (at a glance). Not bad. Looks like a dwarven cave.

  • Hallowfall: 10/10 - This zone IS high fantasy and gorgeous. Beledar zone shift is spectacular. My only complaint is I wish it got a bit darker when it shifted void and was 3x more dangerous. One of the best zones to come from the team in recent years and very unique.

  • Azj-Kahet: 8/10 - The spiders and the zone are very nice. The architecture looks consistent with what we’ve seen. I’m a little disappointed we didnt get more out of the story or the bugs though. I would have loved to see the old queen regain the kingdom after the daughter’s death, in her new jacked ascendant form. And Bliz, why make bipedal bugs if no allied race? :face_exhaling: People would have loved bugs over the latest elf subrace coming in midnight.

  • Siren Isle: 1/10 - Boring, timegated filler content.

  • Undermine: 9/10 - While the aesthetic isn’t personally my cup of tea, I can appreciate it for what it is and how hard the team worked to pack it with things to do. It might actually be too full. It was kinda difficult to find things like rep quartermasters at times. Also really didnt like the cars. The base controls were very clunky. The idea is solid, and i think ground mounts need a revamp to dynamic like flight had, but this missed the mark.

  • Karesh: 9/10 - Been looking forward to seeing these guys for like 18 years. The zone itself is very cool. I wish they didnt change the choppy way the Ethereals used to run, but all in all I dig the look of the people and places. The city is really neat. My chief complaint is how poorly executed the eco-dome quests are and how repetitive/buggy, but this is mainly about the zones themselves and the zone is solid. Wish you could fly while phase diving too.

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Isle of Dorn: 8/10
Ringing Deeps: 7/10
Halowfall: 6/10
Azj-Kahet: 9/10
Undermine: 7/10
K’aresh: 10/10

I instantly liked earthen architecture, especially Dornogal, so original in terms of dwarven fantasy style.

I also fell in love with Azj-Kahet and City of Threads and was spending most of my time in season 1 there.

K’aresh is a dream that finally came true - I started playing in BfA and don’t know how ‘cosmic’ were Argus zones, but I absolutely adore space and always loved Outland for that reason and was hoping to see a modern analogue, which K’aresh of course is

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18

First of all, I have to say that all the zones look beautiful in their own way, and Blizzard always does a great job!
I like all the zones, but one in particular stands out.

Isle of Dorn: 7/10
Looks great, but it’s nothing new we’ve seen before. But I really liked the dwarven stuff, and it’s nice not having to deal with elves or humans!
The campaign, however, felt very rushed, and there were some great side quests.
The brewery and the capital are worth it.

Ringing Deeps: 9/10
The transition to the cave is fantastic; even though it’s a cave, it looks so good and is 100 times better than Zaralek. And with the dwarves, kobolds, and the cool big forge, it was my highlight. The campaign was definitely the best!

Hallowfall: 7/10
Visually the most beautiful and unique zone, because
of the large crystals in the sky that change color. The cathedral looks fantastic, and the Arathi are nice, but nothing special, as they’re just a carbon copy of the humans. The campaign was solid, but nothing that really blew me away. It’s a shame Thrall, Liadrin, or Desko weren’t included…

Azj-Kahet: 6/10
It’s good that we have a Nerubian zone, because WotLK was supposed to have one, but it was cut.
The city gave me Suramar vibes, but unfortunately, nothing more. I did like the architecture of the Nerubians, though, and a few side quests were great, like Mr. Sunflower. The campaign was very rushed and offered nothing new.
It’s a shame that not much was done with Ansurek, the first boss…

Siren Isle: 2/10
I can only agree with the people, it was really bad and a huge disappointment compared to DF with the Forbidden Reach!
It was very small, but I liked the mounts and transmogs.

Undermine: 9/10
Although it feels more like a subplot, it was the highlight of TWW!
It gave me real GTA vibes, and I loved it!
Nice, large zone with the goblin architecture, except for the DIVE feature, which was okay.
The only thing I didn’t like was that the Bilgewater Cartel in the zone had nothing to do with the Horde and was too neutral for me… A few Horde soldiers and banners, and then it would be a 10/10 for me!

Karesh: 6/10

It was cool to see the home of the Ethereals, and for a ruined world, it looks pretty good, although a bit more destruction would have been nice. I didn’t like the return of the Brokers at first, but it wasn’t as bad as I feared.

I wasn’t a big fan of playing best friends with Xal or the return of the Nexus King. Karesh felt very rushed as a zone, which made the world feel very empty and smaller.

Overall, a solid expansion, slightly better than DF. It’s very disappointing how much the Horde was ignored!

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