I know this has been done before, but I wanted to share my personal favorite zones. Note that I didn’t actually start playing until Cataclysm, so I don’t hold as much nostalgia for many of the older zones, though I have gone back and played through most of them by now. As you’ll see, my favorite zones have a combination of beautiful designs and scenery mixed with engaging questlines. Pleas share some of your favorites below!!
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Dragonblight - packed with lore and memorable questlines; plus, the Wrathgate cinematic
Highmountain - visually beautiful and had an enjoyable questline
The Wandering Isle - a great introduction to MoP and a zone with lots of atmosphere
Silverpine Forest - one of the few zones I believe improved with Cataclysm
The Barrens - the quintessential classic WoW zone
Ashenvale - I’m a sucker for night elf culture & lore, and this zone does it best
Icecrown - I mean, come on
Stormheim - very enjoyable quests in yet another viking-esque zone
Ardenweald - my favorite Shadowlands zone; mystical forests and beautiful graphics
Jade Forest - has some of the best questlines in MoP and a perfect start to the expansion
10 - Valley of the Four Winds
Pandaria is one of my personal favorite expansions, and Valley of the Four Winds is where many of my best memories from that expansion are. The rolling green hills and farmlands were just so damn charming, and I’m a sucker for things like owning my own farm. I loved Jade Forest, too, but this zone specifically made me fall in love with Pandaria.
9 - Kezan & The Lost Isles
I put these two zones on here solely for the fact that they’re just pure fun. I’m not the biggest fan of most Cataclysm zones, but Blizzard really knocked this one out of the park. There’s so much to enjoy here. Kezan is the perfect grungy goblin island, and after the island blows up due to the goblins’ own actions, you end up stranded on the Lost Isles, which are beautiful, and you play through an entire questline that ends in the island blowing up due to the goblins’ own actions. Many of the quests are very humorous and it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and I love it.
8 - Nagrand
I sadly never got to see this zone in its prime in TBC, but having gone back and quested through it, I see what makes it so popular. The zone has a magical feeling to it, with its floating islands and waterfalls, and it’s a great escape from the rest of Outland that feels alien and hostile.
7 (TIE) - Frostfire Ridge / Shadowmoon Valley
Like BFA, WoD was a pretty hotly contested expansion. However, what everyone will agree upon is that the expansion had a very strong start. Whether you were Alliance or Horde, you were thrown into one of these two zones that were visually stunning. The graphics overhaul combined with the new questing systems made Frostfire and Shadowmoon feel very polished and immersive. It was great seeing Draenor and its cultures before the opening of the Dark Portal, and both zones (especially Shadowmoon) end in an amazing cinematic that really tie the story together.
6 - Grizzly Hills
This is #1 on many peoples’ lists, and I see why. While its questing leaves a bit to be desired, Grizzly Hills is, in my opinion, the most visually impressive zone in the game. The music and environment feel akin to a national park, and it’s one of those rare few zones I could just walk around in for a while without questing and feel happy. I will also mention the incredible skybox with the aurora borealis. It’s all just so surreal.
5 - Gilneas
When I started playing in Cataclysm, this was my first zone I ever leveled through, and I give it credit for singlehandedly pulling me into the WoW universe. Gilneas’ dark, gothic atmosphere is very unique compared to other zones, and the implementation of phasing works very well, as you see the worgen curse spread and the cataclysm rip half the zone asunder. It’s a shame Blizzard has done very little to return us to this zone, because I know for a fact I’m not the only one who holds this zone in such high regard.
4 - Stranglethorn Vale
This zone is on here because it is the perfect representation of WoW at its core. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to experience it prior to cataclysm, though I did play through it in Classic WoW. The zone is a natural hub for world PvP, it has loads of quests, and some of the most iconic places in the game - Boooty Bay, Zul’Gurub, etc. Plus, who doesn’t love some good old pirate roleplay?
3 - Drustvar
People like to drag BFA and vomit whenever they hear mention of anything to do with it. However, if one zone rises above the flaws and chaos of that expansion, it’s Drustvar. Drustvar took the original formula of zones like Duskwood and Silverpine Forest and took it to a new level. The zone was highly diverse, with everything from snowcapped mountains to quaint autumnal forests to straight up cursed villages. Following the mystery of the curse spreading through the land is a great questline, and it leads up to an epic conclusion in one of my favorite dungeons, Waycrest Manor.
2- Howling Fjord
As my first expansion was Cataclysm, I never actually leveled through here until MoP. When I did, it was on my human rogue, and I distinctly remember riding in on that boat through the fjord, hearing the epic nordic music, and seeing the burning ship hanging above. Then the ship emerged into the Daggercap Bay and I thought I would never see a place more breathtaking in a videogame. The entire zone of Howling Fjord feels like if Skyrim had a kid with WoW, and its quests teach much about the lore of Northrend and its peoples. It truly is an amazing introduction to one of WoW’s most fondly remembered expansions.
1 - Suramar
Suramar is, hands down, Blizzard’s magnum opus; their master stroke. It takes everything good about WoW and throws it all into one zone - masterful storytelling with dialogue, highly interactive and challenging quests, a beautiful zone visually with a thriving city at its core that felt alive and immersive. There was so much that Suramar did right that it deserves its own thread post (and I’m sure has plenty already), and Blizzard has attempted to recreate it multiple times, never quite reaching that same high that the original did. The cast of memorable characters and watching the world change around you as you progress through the story made the storyline feel involved, and you felt like your actions really had an impact. I could ramble endlessly about how this zone will never be beaten, but those of us who played in Legion remember fondly just why Suramar is one of Blizzard’s finest works.