Back when I first started playing WoW, WOTLK had just been released, and we were still in a pre-Cata world. I bought only the Vanilla version and decided to wait on buying both TBC and WOTLK until after I had leveled my first character to 60.
The Western and Eastern Plaguelands were the final areas I quested in before hitting 60 on my Alliance character, and I remember how alone it felt. How edgy. How desolate. It was the first time I truly felt like I was on my own in the game.
Especially once I reached the Eastern Plaguelands. At the time, I was leveling on a PvP server (had no idea what the difference was between PvP and PvE when I first started…), and I remember seeing one of those PvP towers turning red and knowing that there was a Horde player nearby, so I needed to be careful about my surroundings.
Now we’re in a post-Cata world. Most of the Western Plaguelands have been cured, and the Eastern Plaguelands have now become heavily fortified. Light’s Hope Chapel is no longer the one beacon of light for which you can take shelter from the endless sea of Blight, but rather a massive base stands in its place. The PvP towers are now smaller bases. And there are now a grand total of SEVEN flight points in the zone.
Yes, questing is now more streamlined in both zones, but for me, those Cata changes took one of my favorite places to wrap up Vanilla questing before heading through the Dark Portal and battling demons in Outland, and turned it into another copy-paste quest hub.
What are your thoughts on the Plaguelands, and which version did you prefer?
I loved the old Plaguelands. I’ll grant that it’s nice to have actual questlines now, but…I liked the old zone.
I have fond memories of Tyr’s Hand grinding 57-60. Well, maybe half fond half raging frustration. I spent a lot of time there, was an easy place to farm runecloth for faction reputations.
The Old Plaguelands, of course. It had a truly eerie feel to it. I started in Vanilla, a little before TBC came out, so this was long before the Lich King was defeated.
I also played though WC3 before even touching WoW.
Standing in the place which was once Lordaeron, and seeing the horror I unleashed as Arthas in WC3, was powerful and dark.
That said, I do understand why they changed it. The story had to advance, and with the Lich King dead and the scourge pushed back the Plaguelands would definitely start to get a bit cured.
This guy level in Western Plaguelands with a mithril spike and damage shield in Vanilla. Couldnt straight out kill, but try to let them die before I did.
That’s the main thing I loved about them. You always felt like you were on a different frontier and needed to adapt your abilities. I love the old Plaguelands.
Now that Lordaeron has been blighted and the majority of the zombie forces have fled the area, the Alliance needs to fortify the Plaguelands even more. They should build a new stronghold leading to the pass of Quel’Thalas in order to keep the Blood Elves in check. They need to restore more of the Western Plaguelands so we have more farm land for food stores.
I wish they would’ve left the blood of heroes spawns all over EPL, complete with the lvl 58+ elites that spawn and murder you. Imagine how much more fun it’d be having them one shotting level 35s.
No! Part of the value of questing is having a variety of zones in which to quest. What fun would it be if the Plaguelands just became an extension of the Hinterlands?
They would just be restoring the zone back to their pre-scourge landscape. Now that the scourge is finally gone. This doesn’t mean they will be copies of other zones. A zone is more than its landscape and there are still many different landscapes to quest in.
They are finally gone from Lordaeron though. They followed their Lich Queen to Orgrimmar.
And yes, I realize the Forsaken aren’t the same as Arthas’ Scourge but they are getting there under the leadership of Sylvanas. A danger to all of Azeroth.
They aren’t gone though. Only Undercity and Brill were destroyed. Unlike Teldrassil, Tirasfal Glades are still there, and inhabited. As well as Silverpine, the analog to the depopulated and half blighted Darkshore. There are plenty of Forsaken skulking around Lordaeron. The race that was depopulated was the Night Elves.
I disagree. I think the lands being handled by the Silver Hand/Argent Dawn/Argent Crusade is for the best. They actually want to heal the land and bring life to it. They have fought for years to do something undeniably good. They have made farmlands, not Alliance ones, not Horde ones, just farmlands.
They dont need anyone else coming in, stomping on their hard work for more war then taking the lands right from under them for personal gain.
I like aspects of both, in different ways. As others have said, I miss the creepier and more dangerous feeling it had before the revamp. But I also enjoyed experiencing the progression and meeting Fiona and the paladin pals. So when classic comes along, we will be able to have our cake and eat it too!
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