Things I Love About WoW

A Zandalari worktable, covered in a variety of books and potion bottles. A map lies flat across the center, troop markers scattered across its inked surface.

A draenei tome, held open on a wooden stand. It is surrounded by other books, most of which are arranged in a stack, and a few miscellaneous items. A short and stocky candle burns off to the side.

A Kul Tiran candle sconce designed in the shape of kraken tentacles. Each tentacle, of which there are three, holds a single candle.

One of the many tables laid out in Taszavesh. Food and menus cover this one's surface to the brim, carafes and cups full of a rather vivid and alien looking concoction.

Day #45 of things I love about WoW:

Doodads and props! The detail that’s put into small things like candles, food, and written text is stunning - they add so much character to wherever they are. I love looking at them wherever I go, from Tazavesh to Boralus and beyond.

A night elf druid sits at a wooden table in Val'sharah across from a rather large, rather mischievous owlkitten. It goes to bat at something on the table, earning an annoyed, "No...!" from the elf.

An exchange between a Curious Owlkitten and a Val'sharah Refugee. Curious Owlkitten stares directly into Val'Sharah Exile's eyes. Valsharah Refugee says: No...! Curious Owlkitten knocks the cup off the table. Val'sharah Refugee says: Gah! Curious Owlkitten reaches a paw out and lightly bats at the cup. Val'sharah Refugee says: Hey! Val'sharah Exile tries to shoo the kitten away.

Day #44 of things I love about WoW:

The curious owlkittens in Suramar. They are the cutest lil troublemakers *ever*.

The Alliance entrance into Howling Fjord. Valgarde sits on the left, mostly just a smattering of tents at this angle. Utgarde Keep rises in the distance, the vrykul town at its feet dominating much of the image. Waterfalls spill from the dam next to the keep, pooling into a calm glacial river flowing between the towns.

The cliffs at the edge of Howling Fjord. Trees dot the steep slopes, giving way to a smattering of snow and floating glaciers at the bottom. The northern lights paint the sky above the frozen ocean.

A close-up of a glacier, penguins waddling around on it. The dark silhouette of Icecrown Citadel rises in the distance, cutting a striking figure against the soft northern lights dancing across the sky.

One of the many vrykul pathways in Howling Fjord. Trees dot the landscape as far as the eye can see.

Day #43 of things I love about WoW:

Howling Fjord. It’s one of my favorite zones to quest through, but I really love it because of how scenic it is. The first view of the zone you get as an Alliance player is absolutely breathtaking.

My draenei standing in front of Vyranoth in the Emerald Dream. Though Vyranoth is angled slightly away, her head is turned toward the camera, making it look a bit like she's posing for a photo with my character.

Day #42 of things I love about WoW: 

Head tracking! It’s such a small little thing, but it’s amazing how much of a difference it can make when your character’s head turns toward a nearby NPC or a quest giver you happen to be talking to.

Chromie, as seen on top of the Wyrmrest Temple.

Chromie's gossip text during the Deaths of Chromie Scenario. She says, "Luceta, good to see you! Or is this the first time that we've met? I'm in so many places and times right now, I sometimes have a hard time keeping track of all of it."

Chromie as seen in the Culling of Stratholme dungeon.

Day #41 of things I love about WoW:

Chromie. She’s spunky and hilarious and always very refreshing wherever she shows up.

The entrance to the Darkmoon Faire. A large, twisting wooden arch rises in front of the viewer, a massive inhuman eyeball housed in the center part of the top. Two Darkmoon Faire flags flank the bottom of the arch. Beyond that, one can make out the various tents and structures of the Faire, glowing lights strung between all of them.

An aerial view of the Darkmoon Faire. The rollercoaster is featured most prominently in the center, a garish sun symbol perched atop it. To its right sits a massive green, purple, and tan tent.

Another aerial view of the Darkmoon Faire, this time from closer to the entrance. The rollercoaster sits off to the left, rising above most all other structures in the Faire. Various tents and structures curve around a path to the right, glowing lights strung between all of them.

Day #40 of things I love about WoW:

The Darkmoon Faire! The rollercoaster, the fortune teller, the merry-go-round, the prizes - I love the whole quirky (but secretly dark) atmosphere and I especially love that we keep getting new rides and attractions, years after its release.

Netherstorm at night. Two shimmering pink domes cut through the night sky, the hazy silhouettes of trees visible beneath their surface.

Crystalsong Forest under a canopy of stars. The glowing, crystalline trees blaze in contrast to the darkness around them.

An outdoor campfire in Boralus at night. Much of the scene is shrouded in darkness, the only light visible from the fire and an open door in the distance. Shadowed figures lounge around the fire in various states of ease, an attendant standing with a tray just off to the side.

The Oribos skybox under the effects of an inky black potion. A cascade of stars shimmer at the top of the image. Beneath them swirls a dense misty haze of blue and green, both pooling into separate vortexes in the sky. One of the afterlife gates floats off to the right, mostly shadowed.

Day #39 of things I love about WoW: 

The inky black potion. Nothing quite transforms the feeling of a zone and makes for a more cozy, immersive experience than this lil potion.

The old class trainer UI. This one shows all sorts of rogue abilities circa level 14.

Day #38 of things I love about WoW:

Class trainers. Say what you will, but I actually kind of miss the surprise of going back to the trainer and seeing what new abilities they had to offer me.

Concept art for Quel'thalas from the TBC art book. This page is mostly filled with sketches of sin'dorei parapets and structures.

Concept art for the Storm Peaks from the WotLK art book. The page is cut into unequally sized thirds, two full illustrations dominating a good 3/4 of the image. The top one shows a dragon flying above the clouds at night amongst the peaks of the region. The piece below it is of Ulduar, covered in snow and mostly shrouded in darkness. Lastly, below even that, there are four separate concepts for Ulduar structures.

Day #37 of things I love about WoW:

Concept art. I love seeing earlier iterations of things, the different interpretations artists bring to the table, and how much life each piece breathes into the final product. That middle pic of Storm Peaks is one of my absolute favorites.

A very angry Vrykul shield maiden attacking my tiny Nightborne. She is yelling, "I will feed you to the dogs!".

Day #36 of things I love about WoW:

The fact that so many lines have voice acting. In vanilla, I never would’ve expected a random no-name mob to actually shout at me, but one day I logged on and the world came alive with the voices of all sorts of different NPCs and mobs.

A map of Azeroth, Outland, Draenor, and the Shadowlands. Each world (or dimension, in the case of the Shadowlands) is ringed by a circle. They sit atop a whimsical design of clouds and stars, a swirling breeze of wind flowing between them to connect the all circles together. Both Azeroth and Draenor are gridded in a spherical design to denote latitude and longitude. Outland and the Shadowlands, on the other hand, are not - a fact not entirely unusual since they are not spheres as they exist in the cosmos.

A map of Northrend. A small illustration of a Tuskarr is visible in the bottom left.

A map of the Eastern Kingdoms. In the bottom left there's a drawing of a ship moving through the waters. Across from it is a naga.

Day #35 of things I love about WoW:

The map design. They’ve got a fun in-universe feel and I’ve always really liked seeing the sketches on the periphery of each map, especially Classic’s with the ship and naga.

Azeroth, as seen from the surface of Argus. The Maelstrom swirls in the center, a dark angry dot circled by massive swaths of clouds. One can just barely make out Northrend and parts of Lordaeron beneath all the cloud cover. The sun crests the planet's northern horizon, casting a soft ethereal glow over the planet.

Day #34 of things I love about WoW:

Being able to see Azeroth from Argus. Though we technically got to see it in the Black Temple, that skybox doesn’t compare at all to the awesome majesty of this one. The light cresting the horizon? The swirl of clouds? It’s so beautiful.

The player character with a Pepe on their head.

Day #33 of things I love about WoW: 

Pepe! (and all of the really cute and adorable costumes you can collect for him).

The floor of the Lordaeron throne room. A splatter of blood arcs across several of the stones.

King Terenas Menethil's crown, bloodied after its violent removal from the monarch's head.

Day #32 of things I love about WoW: 

The bit of blood on the floor of Lordaeron’s throne room from when Arthas killed his father. While grisly, it’s some great attention to detail and pays homage to a big lore moment. (It’s even shaped like the Lordaeron L, wouldn’t you say?)

A set of drums, the front one painted with the Venthyr insignia.

The inside of the oasis in Tazavesh. One of the Brokers yells, "Learn to play, degenerates!" toward the stage, referring to the players and their instruments.

Day #31 of things I love about WoW: 

The Tazavesh band boss, which I henceforth dub the “battle of the bands”. Pretty sure when we started the encounter I told my group, “this is already the best fight ever”. It’s so creative, so hilarious, and just an all around fun fight.

The Naaru K'ara, encased in a shadowy shell. Light bursts forth from its heart, scattering out into a dozen glowy stars.

Yrel, standing before a column of blinding light in Shadowmoon Valley.

Day #30 of things I love about WoW: 

The Shadowmoon Valley cinematic. It’s no secret that this is my favorite cinematic by far, I tear up every time I watch it. SO much is said in so few words, the music is astounding, and Velen’s sacrifice is just so incredibly impactful.

An exchange between Cudgelface and Lady Moonberry in Revendreth. Cudgelface says: Oi, should we be worried about [Mal'ganis]? Lady Moonberry says: It's not my fault he can't take a joke. So where are we headed? Cudgelface says: Up and inside, where the squeezes are taken for, uh... processing.

Another exchange between Lady Moonberry, a Wrathful Soul, and Cudgelface in Revendreth. Lady Moonberry says: So... tell me about your mother. Wrathful Soul: She was my world, and she was slain in front of me! Cudgelface says: Blimey, that worked. Keep going! Lady Moonberry says: Would you say the loss of your mother made you angry? Wrathful Soul says: I grew up suffering! I had no one else! Cudgelface says: Yeah, that's the stuff! Lady Moonberry says: And do you think losing her led you to a life of murder and rage? Wrathful Soul says: M-maybe? I just-- ARGH!

A quick exchange between Cudgelface and Lady Moonberry in Revendreth. Cudgelface says: You're pretty good at this gig, Miss Wings! Lady Moonberry says: Meh. The dead mother trope is such lazy writing.

Day #29 of things I love about WoW: 

Lady Moonberry. I really really do love how delightfully self-aware Ardenweald is and how much it pokes fun at various story tropes / beats in WoW’s lore.

A massive Fel Reaver in Hellfire Peninsula, poised to step on and probably crush the poor boar beneath it.

Day #28 of things I love about WoW:

The lil shake your screen does because the Fel Reaver is so heavy it literally shakes the ground when it moves.

The culinary creations of the Shadowlands expansion. Various cuisine items, the likes of which include, "Iridescent Ravioli with Apple Sauce," "Steak a la Mode," "Banana Beef Pudding," and "Pickled Meat Smoothie" are listed among the expansion's creatable food items.

Day #27 of things I love about WoW:

Shadowlands cooking profession item names. It was pointed out to me that they cleverly imply the Brokers (who need no sustenance themselves) tried to come up with food for the mortals but didn’t quuuuiiiite understand how it worked.

A scene from the Burdens of Shaohao animatic. It depicts what appears to be the Jade Forest in a sepia-toned painterly style. Tall, narrow mountains rise in the background, Pandaren structures nestled among them. The only splash of color in the image is a yellow ribbon, carried along by two birds.

An image from part five of the Lords of War series. A stout draenei warrior stands looking down on a ruptured battlefield. Flashes of fire erupt in the sky, cannon barrage firing down on the broken shell of a draenei building. The sky is a sick, writhing mass, choking the land beneath it.

A still image from Khadgar's Harbingers short. He stands atop a rocky outcropping, a shadowed figure with Atiesh in his hand. At his command, a column of fire rips across the battlefield in front of him, stemming the advance of the demon army just visible on the horizon.

A scene from Jaina's Warbringers short. Daelin Proudmoore's lost ship arcs out of the water, lifted from its watery tomb by the impressive magics of Jaina Proudmoore. Gentle light caresses the ghost ship, revealing the tattered sails still hanging from the mast after all these years. Water cascades off the wooden planks in a dozen tiny waterfalls.

Day #26 of things I love about WoW:

The animated shorts. The style, the story, and the art in each and every single one of these (from the Burdens of Shaohao to Warbringers and the Shadowlands Afterlives) has made them one of my most favorite things to ever come out of WoW.

The loading screen for the Nighthold. The imposing tower of the palace lords over the viewer, awash in soft hues of pink and blue. It looks warm and inviting, standing in stark contrast to the dark sky behind it.

The loading screen for the Dreamgrove. A small tree shaped like a bowl sits in the middle, small moonstones embedded in the ground around it. Light shines down over them, but it does not extend far enough to touch the creeping trees at the periphery of the image.

The loading screen for Castle Nathria. It depicts the main ballroom, the central feature easily the large tiled dancefloor. Silky red ribbons hang down from the ceiling above, lit by a smattering of crimson sunlight coming in through the three stained glass windows at the end of the room.

Day #25 of things I love about WoW:

Loading screen art. (I am ~ especially ~ a fan of the ones that extend beyond the frame).

The blood elf encampment on the Isle of Thunder. Four stone parapets, each topped with a golden wing, form a square around a magical orb.

One of the promenades in Sunwell Plateau. Two rows of perfectly manicured hedges line the carpeted street. At the end, a large gate-like structure towers over the viewer. It is a dazzling display of red and gold, the flag of Silvermoon hanging down over the golden statue of a female elf.

The entrance into Silvermoon City. The photo is angled upward, making the city seem quite large and imposing in its decadence. All sorts of flags, statues, and plant holders cover every bit of empty space on each of the stone structures.

Day #24 of things I love about WoW:

Literally everything about the blood elf aesthetic.

Strong rains come down over the Hinterlands forest. Trees tower over the viewer, though much of the photo is dominated by the gray rumble of the sky above.

A gray, cloudy sky. Light breaks through the clouds, forming soft glowy halos around dark writhing masses. Flakes of snow drift down softly. (The photographer must confess she does not remember what part of Azeroth this was taken in).

The viewer is looking down on a Kul Tiran ship, somewhere in Stormsong Valley. Rains pour from the sky.

A side angle of the Nighthold, caught between a glowing sunset and a soft snowfall.

Day #23 of things I love about WoW: 

Weather effects. There’s something really nice and atmospheric (pardon the pun) about stumbling through a zone where it’s raining or snowing.

My draenei standing on the central platform in Elysian Hold. The camera is zoomed in at a much closer angle than one would typically play at. Set slightly below and to the side of my character, it makes the world feel larger around her.

My draenei fighting a generic automaton in Bastion.

My Nightborne standing in front of a Venthyr. With the action camera enabled, the PoV is slightly below and to the side of my character. This really emphasizes the height difference between her and the Venthyr - practically twice her size - towering above.

Day #22 of things I love about WoW:
 
The action camera! I don’t use it that often, but I’ve always loved the depth of field and immersion produced by its effect. Characters and places start to feel a lot taller and enemies seem a bit more menacing whenever the actioncam is on.

A lone obelisk of Old God make pierces the dark rumbling skies above Uldum. The whole region is cast in a shadowed pallor, beset by an invasion of Old God minions. One of them, a spindly worm, meanders through the air.

Day #21 of things I love about WoW:
 
Going back to the old world for 8.3! I really enjoyed the sense that we were combatting a threat back home rather than just in a “new” land. An enemy was infringing upon places we’d already been and that had a way of making it feel more real.

The shattered skybox above Icecrown Citadel. The sky is like broken glass folding in on itself, shards and fragments drifting upward somewhere beyond sight.

Day #20 of things I love about WoW: 

This skybox more than any other. There’s a lot of incredible ones in this game, but ever since the Shadowlands cinematic premiered at Blizzcon, I can say this skybox is in my top few. Not only is it gorgeous, it also has SUCH a story to it.

One of the many death traps located inside Torghast. Deathly spikes erupt out of the ground in a cross formation. As if that weren't enough, shadow orbs also shoot across the platform, blocking the path of any who would dare brave the dangerous tower.

Day #19 of things I love about WoW: 

That both Torghast levels and the mobs in them are randomly generated. In a world where dungeons and raids run (mostly) the same the more you do them, it can be really fun to go into Torghast and experience something different each time.

One of Suramar's many promenades. Dusky purple trees line the stone street before the viewer. The Nighthold tower cuts an imposing figure in the distance, backlit by what could either be a sunrise or a sunset.

The skyline of Suramar. Many of the buildings are hazy and difficult to make out from this distance. A tumultuous sky rumbles above before fading into a golden halo that wraps around the structures on the horizon.

Another angle of the Nighthold, this time from over the water. What appears to be snow is falling gently.

Day #18 of things I love about WoW: 

Suramar. The aesthetic, the quests, the lore. I remember feeling genuinely scared when I first went in there because of having to navigate the mobs while in disguise. This zone is really unlike anything that came before or after it.

Popo's gossip dialogue. The little steward is saying: "Happy to see Ishura! Mawsworn attack while I carry supplies to friends. I kill many, but always more come. You walk with me? We deliver supplies?"

An exchange between Popo, a steward, and Marylis, a Kyrian. Popo says: Marylis not hurt, but so many others need help... Marylis says: I'm doing what I can, Popo, but this battalion suffered terrible wounds. Popo: You take all potions for friends. Who hurt them? Marylis: A rampaging devourer on the path ahead. It's unstoppable! Popo says: I stop it. No hurt friends again.

Day #17 of things I love about WoW: 

Popo. We could all use a Popo in our lives.

A screenshot of me falling from Elysian Hold and meeting my untimely demise by landing on a floating platform that was just a touch too far.

A screenshot of me falling through the world en route to Bastion. Unsurprisingly, this ends in death.

In which I accidentally get yeeted off Ner'zhul's platform in Sanctum of Domination and proceed to get made fun of by my guild for dying.

Day #16 of things I love about WoW: 

Dying in stupid and silly ways. Whether it’s because a priest lifegripped you off a ledge, you fell through the world, or you just had ~ spectacularly ~ bad luck (like me), sometimes dying in WoW makes for a pretty hilarious experience.