When I think of fantasy, my visualization of that world is Late Middle Ages (MA), in particular, the castles and countryside of England. And of course that is based on what movies and books relate about how that time looked. I have a keen interest in the Middle Ages in general down to and including the Regency era. Then of course there’s Tolkien’s Middle Earth description in The Lord of the Rings book series, combine with Peter Jackson’s rendition of that world in his movie trilogy that I’ve devoured numerous times. It’s no wonder to me why I have a fondness for game zones that look like any of the above.
In World of Warcraft (WOW), I enjoyed leveling the human starter area Goldshire, through what was originally a mid-tier zone, Southshore. You start in a MA-like Abbey, adventure your way to a small shire-like community, gain strength and fight on to a farmland community, hit a small lake community, spend time in a partially abandoned and spooky town and eventually end up in a more remote rural area of Southshore. Every single character I leveled in WOW was played through the human quest zones regardless of race. That’s how much I adored those zones. Burning Crusade offered a wider variety in zone times – some very magical and over the top fantastical which was a nice change of pace.
While I’ve never EVER been a fan of EverQuest 2 quest zones, I am a fan of the player cities and towns. They are everything I’d wish for as someone who loves all things MA and enjoys the opportunity to run through virtual renderings of that time and architecture. What EQ2 lacked for my tastes in regard to leveling zones, which I didn’t like save for a few, was more than compensated for by the crafting halls I got to run around in and the player housing which let me “live”, however vicariously, in that period. I spent a much larger time crafting, running my shop and decorating my house than questing and leveling. I usually only leveled when I needed to move to the next tier for harvesting crafting materials.
Visually, Lord of the Rings Online was the Holy Grail of being in the ME which Tolkien named Middle Earth. I spent much of my time just running around looking at the locations and trying to get into as many building as possible for the full effect. I didn’t get to see too much because leveling solo wasn’t easy at release and I don’t subscribe to a lot of forced grouping so I un-subscribed.
What I’m enjoying about Warhammer Online (WAR) is that the zones are a combination of my favorite zones in WOW + EQ2, except that my racial zone Empire is entirely based on the Middle Ages. Instead of having it for a few introductory levels so far I’ve had it throughout. For me at least, playing MMORPGs is as much about being able to run around using magic a MA setting as anything else. Having fallen in love with the Empire zones, I’d already decided that I’d level all my characters there. That was until, in a fidgety moment, I decided to fly into the Dwarf Tier 2 zone to look around.
What I found was an area more brightly colored like WOW’s Burning Crusade zones while still using the rustic, deep forest and stone-like architecture of the Dwarven race. I stayed to complete a couple of Public Quests. I immediately noticed the much higher body count for the PQ Phase I event which I attributed to them anticipating Dwarf Engineers in their turrets, which I thought was a bit tedious since we didn’t have an engineer in our group. But I still enjoyed the zone so when I get ready to create my Rune Priest, I won’t assume that I should run her over to Empire to level. I will at least give her racial zone a try.
Once I hit level 20 and purchase my first mount I’m going to do a road trip around the T1 and T2 zones on the Order side. It would be a nice surprise to find that I like them all. I have at least two alt characters that I’m itching to play. And although I don’t mind the idea of re-doing Empire content it would be more fun and diverse to do it in different zones.
Wow great gallery thanks for the trip around WAR.
Posted by: Hudson | October 03, 2008 at 08:57 AM
The one thing I liked when I use to play old Warhammer miniatures and the Pen and Paper roleplay game was the "Germanic" Renaissance setting.
The clothing of the Witch Hunter embodies this for me..
This seems to be something Mythic got right, and why I really wanted to like it.
Thanks for the gallery!
Posted by: Openedge1 | October 03, 2008 at 09:52 AM
Love the gallery. I've been roaming around on Khanzal, my dwarf ironbreaker a bit. I think at some point I'll take a tour of all the lands. I've seen each from their flight locations and they all seem neat but I'd like to explore a bit more.
Some of those cannons are interactive, at least the batteries in the RvR area are. I had some fun with some Destruction players the other night that wandered too close to our lines. The firing range is limited, but be leary of getting too close.
Also, from your gallery comments, I love the fact that it's all war all the time. The only rat I've killed thus far was one of the annoying ones in the tavern. All my questing has been fighting as a dwarf soldier. I'm also loving the NPC interactions as well. Dwarves cheer when battlefield events swing their way, etc.
It's been great fun thus far.
Posted by: Khan | October 03, 2008 at 11:22 AM
I'm interested in roaming the other zones too but admit to be impatient with the walking. But I'm THIS close to getting my first mount. Woot!
The Witch Hunters do look very cool. I enjoyed pairing up with them in PQs when I was playing a Warrior Priest during Preview Weekend. People sometimes neglect healing them and I thought they looked very slick with their pistols and blades. :-)
Posted by: Saylah | October 03, 2008 at 03:50 PM
In LOTRO my favorite area to buy property was the human zone for similar reasons. I really loved it more than the hobbit areas. A lot of people thought I was crazy.
I like the empire/chaos areas more than the others as well.
I was just in the "Typical ostland quest hub" location. Notice the skeletons hanging in the air. Sometimes I wish they'd have more of that in the quests... the evil side of the Empire and witchhunters.
Kahn if you run around as a chosen with the aoe aura you will kill tons of rats (and hens, and bunnies, all the lvl 1-2 critters aggro you everywhere you go!)
Posted by: Yunk | October 10, 2008 at 01:23 PM
@Yunk - I did like the hobbit houses. Not sure that I'd live there but the insides were cute and I was delighted to see the inside of Bilbo's visualized in the Lord of the Rings movies.
Posted by: Saylah | October 10, 2008 at 01:44 PM
I have a hobbit house for my hobbit burg. I love it there! I like the human housing area too - very picturesque.
@yunk: I have a lowbie Chosen I've yet to work on seriously. So many alts, so little time. :) Right now I'm getting my Squig Herder up there. Once he's 20 and has his riding wolf, I may change gears again. I'm not sure what's with me and short, funny races but he always makes me chuckle.
Posted by: Khan | October 10, 2008 at 03:46 PM