[Cataclysm] Hyjal or Vashj'ir?

[Piotyr]

So, when Cataclysm goes live on December 7, there will be two levelling paths available.

First, there is Hyjal, a zone just south of Winterspring. Entry will be via Moonglade, actually, and is the home of the World Tree and many night elves. I won't go into too much detail to avoid spoiling anything for people who want to experience things for the first time.

Second, there is Vashj'ir, an underwater zone west of Eastern Kingdoms. It features many naga, underwater combat (which is slightly different than current underwater combat, as if you near the ground you can walk as normal), and underwater mounts.

So, what are you guys interested in checking out first?

 

[Baerdog]

Probably Vash'jir, then Hyjal. I do intend to hit up both zones.

 

[ScytheRexx]

On my Horde, Vash'jir

On my Alliance, Hyjal

That is how I have it planned for now.

 

[Piotyr]

I'm up for hitting Vashj'ir first, most likely, because I am working under the assumption that the majority of players fear underwater play and would rather go to Hyjal.

If anybody's interested, let's go form a gang of sea-horse riders and roam the underwater lands!

 

[Dave]

I think the opposite. I think a ton of people are going to head right to Vash. It's really been one of the most anticipated settings in a long time.

Any idea how much Old World flying is going to cost?

 

[Piotyr]

I think the opposite. I think a ton of people are going to head right to Vash. It's really been one of the most anticipated settings in a long time.

Any idea how much Old World flying is going to cost?

250 gold.

 

[sixpackshaker]

I just fear that my sea turtle mount is going to be utterly useless with the introduction of the sea horse mount.

 

[Dei]

I gotta go with Harrison Jones. Vash'jir ho!

 

[Piotyr]

Vashj'ir is awesome.

 

[Baerdog]

Fuck yes it is.

 

[Jiarn]

Playing my Worgen right now as I'm avoiding most new zones/instances until there's a bit of die down. I'm also waiting till instances smooth out a little as I'm hearing alot of horror stories about a few.

Don't feel like going back to the days of 2-3 hour Shadow Lab runs.

 

[ScytheRexx]

Hyjal is cool... but does Hyjal give you a SEAHORSE!? No!? Then Vash'jir wins.

 

[Baerdog]

Vashj'ir also lets you ride a SHARK so you can swim around and EAT NAGA.

Beat that, Hyjal.

 

[SpecialKO]

Don't feel like going back to the days of 2-3 hour Shadow Lab runs.

PUGs are a bit rough, but it's far, far, far from 2-3 hour runs. Did a BRC run with my guildies who are all 80-81, and we did it in 20 minutes. It feels like they've tweaked it so dungeons don't take much longer, but you have to pay more attention to CC and mob-handling.

 

[Dei]

Vashj'ir also lets you ride a SHARK so you can swim around and EAT NAGA.

Beat that, Hyjal.

I actually hated that quest because it felt clumsy. =/

 

[Baerdog]

Clearly you are dead inside. Good day ma'am!

 

[Dei]

I'm more of a Harrison Jones/Uldum girl.

 

[Frank]

Vashj'ir is a horrible bullshit nightmare world. Hyjal is awesome.

 

[ScytheRexx]

Vashj'ir is a horrible bullshit nightmare world. Hyjal is awesome.

Pft, they both have charms, but I still prefer Vashj'ir just for how different it is.

 

[Dei]

I ADD'd my way through zones, until I got to Uldum, which is the only zone I have actually managed to complete in full without getting bored.

 

[Frank]

Hyjal's climax is fantastic. Ragnaros' huge room was like Molten Core amped up to a thousand.

 

[Dei]

The reason I haven't finished Hyjal is because I got one of the quest glitches and can't go any farther until it's fixed.

 

[SpecialKO]

Raaah, too many toons to juggle!

 

[sixpackshaker]

I was really impressed with realm stability. I logged on just after launch and stayed on for the better part of 20 hours. Only once was it rebooted in that time. The crowds were not too bad either. Blizz had the spawn timers set very high to handle the traffic. The trouble came when you did not loot and scoot fast enough, and you had to fight 4-6 MOBS of higher level in quick succession.

I still left the crowds behind and did most of my leveling to 85 by Archaeology. I got the one drop that I did the career for pretty early, the Fossilized Raptor mount.

 

[Baerdog]

After playing through both Hyjal and Vashj'ir at this point I think they both have their strong points. Hyjal is a lot shorter and feels a lot more like an epic fight for the fate of the world and such. The climax was very awesome as well, much stronger I think than Vashj'ir's.

However, Vashj'ir felt different in a really good way. I loved the look and feel of the zone. When I first got there I really felt like I was shipwrecked and had to help these people get to safety. The conflict starts off a lot smaller and eventually grows in scope when you reach the Shimmering Expanse. There were some pretty funny moments and some awesome moments and some very buggy moments. The thing about Vashj'ir is that it's very long and it has a LOT to show you but there were a couple of moments where I felt like the story was dragging. Not as many as one might think though. Perhaps the most disappointing thing is the climax which

Spoiler

is set up to be you mixing it up in this huge fight between the naga and Neptulon's forces for control of Vashj'ir. Instead most of it happens in a cutscene and your NPC buddies shrug their shoulders and say "Well, guess we'll finish this up in Throne of the Tides."

At the end of the day though, I think I preferred Vashji'r to Hyjal. It was different and fun and that's a good thing in my book.

 

[Frank]

I was loving Deepholm up until the point where I had to kill multiple named mobs. REAL bottleneck there. Unlike most mobs which just machinegun spawn, the named ones still took their sweet time. I think the worst one was that chase through the tunnel with that Earthen Ring shaman. I killed that guy 5 times before the God damn game decided to give me credit for the kill.

 

[ScytheRexx]

I think the worst one was that chase through the tunnel with that Earthen Ring shaman. I killed that guy 5 times before the God damn game decided to give me credit for the kill.

I got lucky on that one. I walked into the cave and she was standing right there. Started it up before like ten other people showed up.

Really, I noticed quests are getting a little better now due to people hitting cap. I tried Vash'jir again on my hunter yesterday, and was able to do all the quests with little to no competition.