BFA zones look amazing. But unlike past expansions, they feel very small, claustrophobic and closed off. It feels like there is always something either on top of me, or looming over me, whether it’s a mob, or a mountain or something else.
The only zone I can kind of breathe in is Voldun. But even that is pretty darn crowded for a “desert”.
Why are BFA zones like this? Anyone care to guess?
Because they are islands, not continents.
Impassable terrain, jammed full of mobs. Very few areas do not have a purpose for some quest. As you say, no room to breathe.
I was gonna observe that Pandaria was an island, but it’s more a continent. So I sort of get your point.
Even the Broken Isles felt crowded. WoD was truly the last expansion to have amazing, sprawling, breathable zones.
Why did they design these lands like this?
Seems like the opposite of a massive world to lose oneself in.
(stupid forum rules that prevent me from replying…)
New team, new idea of what “right” looks like. Draenor was a copy/paste of Outland for the most part so it missed getting cram-packed like Legion and BfA did.
You’re probably right.
What I loved about WoD was that it really allowed the team to show their proficiency. Zones like SMV and Frostfire were desolate. Talador, Nagrand and Tanaan were kinda densely populated. Spires of Arak was a wildcard. Definitely a good mix.
Legion was technically great, but it felt like a rehash of old styles. Basically updated Grizzly Hills, Howling Fjord, Ashenvale/Hyal etc Only Suramar blew me away.
I prefer zones like this to enormous zones with tons of empty space.
Do you like exploration in games or no?
(its fine if you dont, just wondering)
Mob density compared to past zones. It feels like Blizz shoved 1000 mobs in an area that previously would have held 10-20 meaning you can’t take more than 5 steps without aggroing something unless you’re flying or in a town or outpost.
The annoying part is when they don’t make areas big, they tend to give them some truly asnine geography. I’d rather a lengthy ride than some switchback horror down some bloody mountain with random outcrops of rock to make travel even more of a pain.
And then they gave us Tanaan.
The zone designers are severely suffering from Messy Apartment Syndrome, which is a term I made up just now.
Yes. But Blizzard has shown that they can do large zones either really well (Pandaria and Northrend, where the zones were huge but stuffed with things) or really bad (Cataclysm and Outland, with massive tracts of just empty useless space).
Legion and BFA have trended towards smaller, more packed zones that feature a lot more verticality and I like that, accepting fully that I’m in the minority there since everything is about maximum efficiency now.
Yeah, the topography and terrain of Kul Tiras actually made me stop levelling my Alliance characters for a while. The constant, sharp mountainside in much of Tiraguard Sound and Drustvar was actually giving me IRL headaches due to the camera angle.
I wish this were an exaggeration.
Yeah, in modern WoW, there is a real efficacy to things. Everything in the zone has a use. Which is good from an efficiency standpoint but not great fantasy/RP-wise IMO.
Hey, I like Tanaan 
It’s moody, wild, and perilous. It’s got a diversity of looks, but everything jives together for the most part. They could have made it all fel green (such as how Icecrown was overwhelmingly blue) but there is a nice blend of natural colour/lighting and the HFC fel stuff IMO.
What pray tell is this?
Don’t you think it’s possible to do verticality but in a way that isn’t claustrophobic?
Storm Peaks, Kun-Lai, even Highmountain, Stormheim and Suramar have areas of incredible verticality. They don’t feel as packed as BFA IMO.
It’s when you design zones to feel more like navigating a friend’s messy apartment rather than outdoor terrain.
This is why I hated Nazjatar… That zone is ridiculous with mob density if you’re not flying.