by Magistrate - 7 years ago     show comments

One of World of Warcraft‘s biggest appeals is its enormous, ever-growing, unique world. As we’ve come and gone as players, different places hold different meanings for us, inspiring awe, wonder, and excitement. Below, we’ve put together a list of some of some of our favorites.

While you’re reading, consider what your favorite landmarks are. The looming dwarven ruin of Loch Modan? The meandering wall of the Serpent’s Spine? Maybe it’s something more recent, like the immense, intricate jewel of the shal’dorei, Suramar. Feel free to share your thoughts below or @BlizzPro.

The Dark Portal Landing

There are probably a handful of experiences that will remain evocative of the spirit of World of Warcraft for all time, and the Dark Portal is one of them. Besides its context in the larger franchise, as portrayed in books, the RTS, and more, the Dark Portal symbolized something very significant for Warcraft that would single out its willing creative dissidence from standard high fantasy–a surreal, apocalyptic, alien landscape.

The geography of everything that comes after entering the Dark Portal was specifically crafted to create a sense of awe. Players look down from a megalithic structure crafted by Orcs many years ago to a desperate battlefield between the mortal races of Azeroth and the first in-your-face moment with the Legion in the game. Only a narrow bridge of crumbling rock, laid with a road of Draenei bones numbering in the many thousands, makes the greater continent accessible, and to either side we could see the vast, infinite, scintillating darkness of the Twisting Nether, another first for the game. Beyond this narrow path, yet more demonic monoliths dot the landscape as it rises into jagged peaks, floating land masses, and the convulsing aurora of the Twisting Nether, itself.

Many credit Burning Crusade as their favorite expansion. I was not playing at the time, but I can easily see how the limitless, fantastical possibilities portrayed inspired the imaginations and passion of players everywhere.

Tempest Keep

Warcraft has its own brand of sci-fi mixed in with its usual fantasy elements, and nowhere are they better exemplified than in the floating, crystalline techno-fortress of Tempest Keep (and subsidiary ships). Players have pilgrimaged to Tempest Keep for years to farm the famed Ashes of Al’ar, as well as some awesome transmog pieces. But what really makes the place shine is, well, itself.

Appropriate Draenei ships and prisons, the Tempest Keep conglomerate represents vehicles that fly by punching holes through dimensions rather than actually moving like regular space ships. Most of their mass is comprised of crystals, both a fuel source, a sturdy building material, and a substance to craft bridges, analogs to computer boards, defense systems, and much more.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the Draenei technology was appropriated by Kael’thas Sunstrider to suck the arcane energy out of the atmosphere of Netherstorm, creating the way-too-purple, blasted wasteland we see today. This massive energy, funneled and distilled through the Keep, proves just how adept Draenei engineering is, and that the limits of magic in Warcraft are pretty much limitless.

Tirisfal Glades

The famed “fairy circle” in Tirisfal Glades may not be the most dramatic feature, but it certainly was a mysterious one until Legion hit. The spawning ground of the Fey-Drunk Darter, this innocuous ring of eerie mushrooms, so far off the map in western Lordaeron you’d think it had to be diseased, has since found meaning in the Shadow Priest artifact quest for Xal’atath, Blade of the Black Empire.

For many years, discussion has played out across many Warcraft forums trying to figure out its purpose. An Old God influence was assumed due to some lore hints, but Blizzard closed the case when they unveiled that it’s the tomb of Tyr, a titanic watcher slain long ago. It also has some spooky scary Old God stuffs, the Twilight’s Hammer cult, and a C’Thraxxi general.

Greymane’s Wall

And now for something from Cataclysm. While the expansion had a shortage of activities, it made up for it in some ways with some of the most unique, elaborate, and comprehensive zones designed to date. The introduction of Worgen as a playable race, as well as the overhaul of Silverpine Forest, meant that the Greymane Wall would play a key role in the stories of the Cataclysm.

The Greymane wall, besides being a beautifully-wrought, enormously large structure of parapets and guard towers, spans from the Great Sea to the Hillsbrad mountains. It even includes a damn fine dam, and it marks the border between the dark, brooding Silverpine trees and the Gothic-inspired dales and moors of Gilneas. I would include Gilneas City if it was functional, which is, itself, breathtaking and an unfortunate waste of great art assets.

Of course, the greatest architectural achievement of the Gilneans, one that spared them from the three wars and much of the evil of the rest of the world, could not keep out the Worgen curse, and could not keep out the Cataclysm. We’re left to wonder how things would have worked for them had they engaged more with the Alliance earlier on, and what would have become of their conflict with their great adversary, the Forsaken.

Terrace of the Makers

For our last entry, Wrath of the Lich King brings us to the Terrace of the Makers. The Titan topic was sporadic through vanilla, but recently has gained a wealth of screen time since this zone became available, including Mists of Pandaria and, especially, Legion. This subzone, the front for the Ulduar raid, really brought the architecture, technology, and history of the Titans into players eyes and hands in a big way for the first time.

The upper half of Storm Peaks is rife with Titan ruins to explore, including the Engine of the Makers, the Temple of Storms, and some amazing caves and structures embedded into the mountains, themselves. But the Terrace takes this sporadic theme to a whole new level, with tiers of a titanic city stretched up and down each side of an enormous, icy canyon.