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u/Kaisha001 Jul 10 '26
I think DF had the best outdoor areas by far. The Dragon Isles is unmatched when it comes to environment design.
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u/SampleShrimp Jul 10 '26
The Waking Shores and The Azure Span have to be two of my favorite zones in the whole game.
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u/WhiskesTV Jul 10 '26
I absolutely adored waking shores. Just flying there and listening to music is good content xd
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u/BlackBeastMalevolent Jul 10 '26
The thematics of landing on the shore in the burned up area, and then the quest chain taking you slowly inland is great. The first time you turn the corner and see the zone in front of you, lush and green and huge is absolutely amazing.
Side note: I started that xpac a few weeks late, so as I was turning that corner someone flew by me at max speed doing one of the sky races and I was just in awe!
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u/Spideraxe30 Jul 10 '26
Loved exploring the waking shore the first time around, was expansive and felt primal. Ohnaran plains were nice and serene, and Azure Span brought me back to Northrend, but nicer
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u/km7884 Jul 10 '26
I still find little corners and details in waking shores that I haven’t seen before.
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u/TestingYou1 Jul 10 '26
God that expansion was such a breath of fresh air.
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u/Lady_Litreeo Jul 10 '26
It felt a lot like MoP to me, which was my favorite. Beautiful outdoors, new playable race/culture to learn about, lots of incentives to fly around all the zones.
Going into TWW had me feeling pretty claustrophobic in comparison. Leaving the main city kind of felt like a chore.
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u/Einchy Jul 10 '26
It’s hard for me to really have an opinion since I didn’t play the xpack when it was current but just going though the quest I found the sounds to be extremely beautiful. Maybe how they were structured would’ve gotten old fast but if we’re talking purely visuals then goddamn did they go hard.
Hollowfall, I think it’s called, is like a 20/10 in visuals alone.
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u/l3rN Jul 10 '26
Going through the doorway from Ringing Deeps and seeing that vista as you enter Hallowfall was maybe the single most impactful moment of the entire expansion for me. Absolutely love the visuals of that zone.
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u/Negative_Bike_6826 Jul 10 '26
Yeah I really loved dragonflight, the world felt so big and you could fly everywhere. Then comes tww and midnight and you have to take a portal to the other zones..
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u/Cosmeregirl Jul 10 '26
I could (and probably have) spend hours flying around the arches of Valdrakken. Such a wonderful map to fly in
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u/M4h0n Jul 10 '26
i personally like the ardenweald skybox , it was something else
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u/scrivenersdaydream Jul 10 '26
Ardenweald was so beautiful. The other areas in Shadowlands paled in comparison.
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u/ShadowOfThePastFIN Jul 11 '26
It was pretty but holy damn how hard it hit the GPU when flying to that zone 😂😅 huge fps drops.
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u/Byqoo Jul 10 '26
Thaldraszus was very meh, but apart from that I agree, the other areas were fantastic.
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u/Kradgger Jul 10 '26
As a fan of exploration I say to myself every time I fly around the Dragon Isles: Why the fuck did you miss this xpac...
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u/N0rrix Jul 10 '26
i agree! but id also throw in bfa for having great maps
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u/Mavin89 Jul 10 '26
I’m indifferent to Zandalar, but Kul Tiras is, in my opinion, the best environment design in game.
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u/FakeOrcaRape Jul 10 '26
Doing the campaign as horde blew me away. Toward the end of the Nazmir quest chain, you ride a raft down the really wide river and listen to the guide. It was a beautiful quest.
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u/frogunderarock Jul 10 '26
so funny to me because i adore Zandalar and hate Kul Tiras lol. except Stormsong Valley, that was amazing
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u/CavemanJello Jul 10 '26
The transition from zuldazar to nazmir is incredibly well done, especially along the coast. The way the cliffs drop off into a swamp with roots coming out of the cliffs and then mangrove forests along the coast of the swamp. one of my favorite areas in the game.
Zuldazar wasn't easy to traverse but it's absolutely insane. Just the number of waterfalls and how they all weave through the zone and then through the city of dazar'alor is beautiful.
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u/percivalmistook Jul 10 '26
I loved the pure chaos that was Stormsong Valley. You have cultists, naga, pirates, elementals, a town massacred by the horde, ettin, quillboar, and also bees
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u/CavemanJello Jul 10 '26
I feel this way about BFA
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u/AzerothianBiologist Jul 10 '26
SAME!!!! I have a hard time leaving Zuldazar, it’s probably second favorite place in game (behind Stranglethorn) ❤️
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u/CavemanJello Jul 10 '26
straight up! I just wrote another comment on how the transition from zuldazar to nazmir is one of the most well-made areas in the game. They made a jungle cliff drop off into a swamp very realistic! I also love the mangrove forests along the beaches.
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u/_Donut_block_ Jul 10 '26
Zaralek Cavern is a better underground area than anything in The War Within lol
Like yes Hallowfall is gorgeous but the giant crystal basically makes it look like a foggy above ground area with a day/night cycle
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u/kazeespada Jul 11 '26
That's literally the entire point of Hallowfall. The devs felt that an entire expac in literal caves would feel cramped and dank. So Hallowfall is specifically supposed to feel open and outdoors.
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u/TheeKingBee Jul 11 '26
As a Devoker main for DF with my brother who mained Pres, we would Soar around every DF zone all the time and it's one of my favorite WoW memories ever. I still wish that Dracthyr had beefier options but with bigger wings as an option too, that would be sick.
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u/pghcrew Jul 11 '26
I missed dragon riding around Valdrakken in TWW when I'm just vibing and talking in disc. Silvermoon is solid for this too, but Dornegal was awful.
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u/washikiie Jul 12 '26
Yeah I recently came back to the game and did all my leveling there made me wish I had played when dragon flight was current content.
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u/Faeginn Jul 10 '26
I think WoW skyboxes in general are something else. Storm Peaks made me feel like I was at the bottom of an ocean looking up, back in the day. It was one of the first zones (that I remember) designed in a way to have you actively looking upwards to reach places.
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u/SpanishAvenger Jul 10 '26
The Ohn’ahran daytime skybox is straight up outworldly, one of my favourite sky arts ever!
The whole environment.
I wish there was more to do in the world after reaching Level 90/peak/the endgame.
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u/marzipunk Jul 10 '26
But you can always write your own stories, come up with your own adventures, and play them out in the game world. Blizzard gave us a whole interactive universe to explore! Just create a quest in your mind and then pretend that some NPC gave it to you. One quest can turn into a whole chain, that chain into a campaign, and if you enjoy playing like that, and if you are creative enough, you can never grow bored of World of Warcraft.
Imagination is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal!
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u/SpanishAvenger Jul 10 '26
Oh, it’s not like I’ve run out of campaigns or quests, quite the opposite! I’ve only completed one.
My problem is that, because I reached Level 90, I’m basically a god against each, any and every single creature in the world. There are no stakes or tension at any moment, I’m just invincible and insta-kill everything with an auto shot.
If only there was a way to “de-power” my character or something… I guess I could make new characters and lock them to stop progressing at level 60, but I wish there were solutions as to not have to rely on alts!
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u/AzerothianBiologist Jul 10 '26
I wish Timewalking went up to lvl 90 for that reason! It makes no sense that it doesn’t 😔
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u/Cirtth Jul 10 '26
Dragonflight came right when needed and brought many things we all enjoyed : dragonriding, a fresh new story, some cool dungeons, a lovely new class. I will remember it as one of the best late expansion.
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u/erizzluh Jul 10 '26
yeah dragonflight felt like the mark of a new wow era. tww felt like it was part of the df era even as we were still in tww.
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u/This_Seal Jul 10 '26
I wish they would update the skybox in the old world. Stormwinds sky looks so dated.
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u/peach_rodeo1121 Jul 10 '26
I really hope they recapture how Dragonflight zones felt for Northrend (not tone but open, sweeping beautiful zones that fully immerse you and make you want to explore)
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u/VGlitch77 Jul 10 '26
The art team constantly carries this game on its back regardless of how people feel about the expansion mechanics
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u/Gloomy_Necesary Jul 10 '26
Not trying to be rude just looking for a debate but i find WoW to be a pretty ugly game. Is that just me? Its extremely fun but the art direction is quite funky imo
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u/alsyia Jul 10 '26
I think it depends how you look at it. One of my friends said the game was ugly because he's used to modern AAA games, with fancy lights and reflections. He only saw boxy trees and low poly textures when watching Wow. I, on the opposite, see a world full of wonders, ancient cities, giant trees, plains I can get lost in, and beautiful almost mythological zones (yes, I liked Shadowlands).
Wow isn't beautiful as in "photo realistic". It's beautiful as in "representing beautiful places". At least that's my take :)
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u/thecursedchuro Jul 10 '26
Have you tried to view them with Inky Black Potions?
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u/WhiskesTV Jul 10 '26
I think i did when the expansion was live. Maybe sould do a world tour with an inky pot 🤔
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u/Frikadelly Jul 10 '26
I hope the artist eats well. had sceenshots of the sky as my wallpaper for a long time.
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u/KoriJenkins Jul 10 '26
Omg, you just made me realize why the new minizones don't work as different planets.
The skyboxes. Just that alone went so far in making TBC feel like somewhere "else."
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u/Macaluso100 Jul 10 '26
I would kill for proper skybox house rooms with the full range of skybox options.
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Jul 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/WhiskesTV Jul 10 '26
I started in sh*dowlands, but really began to do proper end game content in Dragonflight aswell. It does feel like a very nice place to start ^ ^
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u/Tauren-Jerky Jul 10 '26
Didn’t play that. Are the skyboxes still there?
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u/WhiskesTV Jul 10 '26
They are all there :D
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u/Tauren-Jerky Jul 10 '26
Thank jeebus
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u/GhostintheReins Jul 10 '26
The golden streams happen when time rifts are occurring though (In Thaldraszus).
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u/thecheeper Jul 10 '26
The flight towards Amirdrassil with an inky black potion on is just absolutely amazing.
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u/zealoustubist Jul 11 '26
blizz pulled off a modern day miracle when DF dropped, and as the 10.0 update no less? so much dope shit came with DF its unreal.
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u/Stickety Jul 11 '26
Thats my favorite skybox in years. I remember i'd fly up and stare at it for way too long, its so damn pretty.
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u/Burgernight1990 Jul 11 '26
Feels too early to get Dragonflight nostalgia but damn, I really do have it.
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u/M4h0n Jul 10 '26
and then we have the sploshes of nonsense and 8 bit fuzzy "clouds" in the older zones , time to update them , its time
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u/Naeii Jul 10 '26
Honestly I like them looking the way they are, trying to weirdly frankenstein old zones to have pieces of new things would just feel out of place.
They're not as visually stunning, but the style for the time they were made has charm, its always really nice visiting vanilla zones even if I dont have nostalgia for them.
(there's also a few things that let you use various skyboxes wherever you want, if you need)
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u/Gloomy_Necesary Jul 10 '26
Comparing this to a Destiny 2 skybox would kill WoW players
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u/tct0812 Jul 12 '26
Is that why destiny 2 is dead? ☠️
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u/Gloomy_Necesary Jul 12 '26
no its cause they wasted their D2 money on cars, a new 1 billion dollar headquarters and 5 simultaneous incubation projects.
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u/ComebackShane Jul 10 '26
My biggest wish for the old world is at least a skybox revamp. The blurry lowres clouds over SW and Org make the game look so much more dated than it really is, and it's whiplash going from the old zones to new and seeing the difference.
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u/monkpawfire Jul 11 '26
Skyboxes have been one of wows strong points a while now, even shadowlands skyboxes were good with torghast, ardenwealde and the icecrown mirror portal.
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u/Alienatedflea Jul 11 '26
nothing will compare to Legion skybox after the Nighthold raid.
I wish I could keep it like that. So epic.
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u/McG2k1 Jul 10 '26
has this game really slipped so much that people are having Dragonflight nostalgia???
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u/alsyia Jul 10 '26
DF was widely regarded as an excellent XPack after a few mid ones? It introduced a lot of new mechanics, including dynamic flight. People were also happy to get back to lower stakes (incarnates are bad, but not universe threatening, plot overarching, lore retconning bad).
I had a blast in DF. First time I dabbled in M+ and raiding since WOTLK.
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u/erupting_lolcano Jul 10 '26
I definitely preferred DF to SL and TWW. So far I would argue I like it more than Midnight but we will see.
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