Worldview: Feralas

The lush green forest of Feralas lies in stark contrast to the adjacent dry, baking zone of Thousand Needles. It is a lush forest home to a wide variety of wildlife, including harpies, hippogryphs, gorillas and bears. It is also the location of Dire Maul, one of the great level 60 5-man instances.

The border between Feralas and Thousand Needles.

The characteristic tall rock spires that give Thousand Needles its name also continue some way into Feralas.

The small lake below the Tauren village of Camp Mojache.

The Lariss Pavillion, north-east of Camp Mojache.

In the distance, a village of the Grimtotem tribe of Taurens, who are not part of the Horde.

A waterfall cascading down the mountains that separate Feralas and the Tauren starting area of Mulgore.

The entrance to Dire Maul, guarded by ogres.

Looking west along the outer wall of Dire Maul.

Moving further west, we approach the cliffs overlooking the sea.

On the path leading to northern Feralas, a bridge over another waterfall.

There are more ruins in northern Feralas, many of them occupied by harpies. Northern Feralas is more open than the rest of the zone, and not so gloomy.

The blazing sun makes quite a difference compared to the darkness one emerges from when travelling north.

Ruins around Oneiros.

Some more ruins. There are many patrols of level 62 elite dragonkin in this area…

…and in the centre of Dream Bough sits (occasionally) Taerar, guarding one of the entrances to the Emerald Dream.

Looking north up the lake surrounding Dream Bough.

The Ruins of Ravenwind. These also are infested with harpies - their nests are the rough ball shapes hanging from trees and parts of the ruins.

Heading south again, looking down on the dock where one may catch the boat to Feathermoon Stronghold, a Night Elf town on Sardor Isle.

Looking back up at the cliffs from the coast.

Heading west towards the dock at Feathermoon Stronghold.

Looking south at Sardor Isle, with the Isle Of Dread in the background.

Looking north towards Sardor Isle from some ruins on the Isle Of Dread. These ruins are occupied by a tribe of Naga, whilst the central valley of the island is full of wandering level 60-62 elite chimaera.

The ruins on the south coast of Sardore Isle.

Heading back into southeastern Feralas.

The Ruins of Isildien in the High Wilderness area, populated by ogres.

And that's Feralas! As you can see, it's very green and lush (except for the southern part of Sardor Isle, which is more grey and sickly), and one of the first zones I discovered that really made me stop questing and just look at it. In fact, the zone has affected me so much the colour scheme of my blog is inspired by it (and the header image is a crop of the Lariss Pavillion image).

I briefly skirted around Dire Maul in this post, and I do plan to do a full session(?) on it soon – there really are a lot of interesting things to see in the instance!

Worldview: Azuremyst and Bloodmyst Isles

This is the first post in what I plan to make into an on-going series exhibiting the zones and instances of World Of Warcraft. Outside of WoW, my main hobby is photography, and I've decided to try and apply my knowledge and skills in that field to screenshot-making in the game. There is so much to see in Azeroth and Outland, yet I suspect many veteran players don't really look at it with an aesthetic mindset - everything is mere function.

My purpose, then, is to show what the world is like when you spend the time to stop and just look at it, without issues of quests, travel, chores and so forth clouding your mind. A secondary goal is to make pictures that even non-players will find interesting, thus there will be few images documenting practical aspects of the world such as vendors, flight paths and so forth. In fact, this is not really a documentary project at all, more of a series of themed galleries.

This idea has been fermenting for quite a while – I think it was when I first saw Feralas that I began to see the game in a different light, and it was only when I read a post on HoTs & DoTs about Firefox Personas (themes), of all things, that I finally began to seriously consider doing something constructive.

So why the draenei starting areas first? Mostly because it's my nature to root for the underdog, and to be different. I have no proof but I get the feeling the Isles are one of the less-busy Alliance zones in the game; I suspect this is simply because draenei are not one of the standard fantasy races, so most people will start with the more familiar humans, dorfs and elves. A comparatively minor reason for starting in Exodar is because I am using my shaman to take the screenshots, as Far Sight allows me to see the world from normally inaccessible places.

So then, let us begin. You can click the images to see a larger (960px wide) version.

The Traders' Tier in the Exodar.

Workers clearing up a less well-travelled area of the Exodar.

Near the top of the ramp leading in and out of the Exodar.

The Exodar from the outside looking towards the front entrance.

The road leading north from Azure Watch, the draenei starting town.

A stag and some ruins on the hill overlooking Azure Watch.

Overlooking Ammen Vale, the draenei starting zone.

Looking north from Blood Watch on Bloodmyst Isle. Various pieces of the Exodar that broke off during the crash are scattered around Bloodmyst Isle, corrupting the area.

A view out across the sea to Wyrmscar Isle.

The ghost of Razormaw circling the sky above Wyrmscar Isle.

The Warp Piston, part of the Exodar which broke off during the crash.

An un-harnessed voidwalker wandering around near the Warp Piston.

The Vector Coil, another broken-off part of the Exodar. The Blood Elves in the area are using it to empower their leader Sironas.