The Kalimdor of My Heart (SS heavy)

All the changes they announced with Cataclysm and that disgustingly cheap trailer have put me in a foul mood with regard to the Azeroth I know and love. It appears that every zone will be revamped and redone, and while that's all well and nice, I dislike not being able to go back to my "childhood", so to speak. So I've decided to make a compilation of my favorite places in Azeroth, so I will always have them.

First, Thousand Needles. This zone is particularly dear to my heart because it is nearly a tauren-exclusive zone and rich in lore.

Additionally, I do love to watch the wyvern nest.

I've always been left wanting a bit for the motivation behind the Grimtotem, but some part of me always wondered a bit if they were recruiting.

Oh, Arikara, the spirit of Vengeance incarnate. Several patches ago they removed the animation unique to her (when summoned as a hunter pet, she appears in a puff of smoke and thunder), so now she is nothing so special as any other windserpent. Still, her story was a fun one: She was seeking to kill Cairne in retribution for the changes to tauren culture his governmanship brought. I'd sooner have Cairne die to Arikara than his current fate...

My favorite place in the Needles. I found this lore-filled cave when I was working on Loremaster of Kalimdor, and instantly fell in love.

I always wondered who camped here, and where they were now...

Oh, the Shimmering Flats, aka the Bermuda Triangle of Azeroth. Unicorn power?

Gravity in Azeroth has never failed to amaze me. That racing harness has been swinging for some time now.

What happened in this tauren settlement, besides the obvious basilisk take over? It looked like such a promising place, at least at one time.

Feralas, by far my favorite zone in Azeroth. Recall when you had to fish in the Veridant River in order to train fishing?

The ruins were a source of perpetual fascination for me. A history of tauren and night elf cohabitation is somewhere lost in these woods.

Who didn't love the hippogryphs and the hidden pool to the south?

I recall escorting a mechanical chicken through these caves. Feralas loves these wonderful moon beams...

Oh, the perils of the high mountain pass leading to the Twin Colossi. A sharp turn left you toppling!

The Rockbiter must love the taste of these crystal-infused rocks!

I remember grinding the harpies in north Feralas as I leveled and retaining an appreciation for the beauty of the ruins they inhabited.

To the top of the Colossus! Chat with strange night elves that sell you parachutes to go down with!

The portals to the Emerald Dream existed long before Wyrmrest was even programed.

I don't have much for Felwood, but I can't deny it has been one of my favorite corrupted zones. It didn't have the same doom-and-gloom as the Plaguelands, since it wasn't concerned with the destruction of human settlements, but the inversion of the natural world. Recall when this path to the Horde flight point was non-existant, and you had to go around the fallen tree to find it?

Of course, no hunter's memory of Felwood is complete without the Ancients. Destroyed 10,000 years ago when the Burning Legion first marched on Hyjal, they send out young hunters to cleanse the world of the demons that still walk among the unsuspecting denizens of Azeroth. I remember well my excitement of finishing the quest, and receiving the bow that I still hold above many others. There can be no doubt that questline helped make me the hunter I am today.

And finally, my heart of hearts, the Barrens. Every toon I have ever rolled leveled through the Barrens. I know the questlines by memory. I have seen every NPC, every nook and cranny of the serengeti. Neg was born and raised in the Barrens; it is her lifeblood.

The oases were the flash of green and fertility, and who didn't sneak past the centaur from time to time to indulge in their lush waters?

Above all, I think, I will miss my Barrens. If there was anything so constant in the game, it was that zone.