Your Place In The World
Posted by 
Bastosa on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 - 37 Comments Tags: Hyjal, Paladin, Raid, battle for mount hyjal, protection, undead
Bastosa on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 - 37 Comments Tags: Hyjal, Paladin, Raid, battle for mount hyjal, protection, undead 
Ever feel like you found a dungeon, zone, or raid that was just made for you? Depending on your class, spec, and general play style some places just click with the way you play. As a protection paladin I've been close to experiencing this a few times. The Plaguelands were full of undead and great paladin lore. It was definitely one of the first places my tankadin felt at home. Further down the road there was Kara. A masterfully designed instance, and again crawling with undead. This had to be it right? Not quite.
After all this time playing my Pally, I am proud to announce I have found my place. My "Zen" instance. The raid to end all raids for the protection paladin: Mount Hyjal. I zoned in there for the first time ever a few weeks ago, and it all just feels right. Waves of mobs just charging into my consecrate, piles of undead that I can blast with my Holy Wrath, and pulling stray mobs off an over zealous DPS is just an exorcism away. Even the bosses are all demons, sending our threat through the roof. I know we are designed for AOE tanking, and this instance seems to be designed for us.
For those that have never seen the raid, Hyjal is set up much different than others. It is similar to the 5-man instance The Black Morass. You must survive waves of undead that descend upon various towns you must protect. Instead of pulling the instance, the mobs come to you. After you have downed 8 waves you get greeted by a boss. It can be rather hectic, but with all these mobs charging into your raid the Prot Paladin is invaluable for keeping everything under control.
I have never had more fun in a raid than I did my first night in Hyjal. Not only did I get to tank in a way I never have before, I even showed up in the top 10 of the DPS chart! I think I am in love. We still have a ways to go, and I know there is an obstacle or two in our way, but I am thoroughly looking forward to working through this instance. I've heard from many people that this instance gets repetitive and tiresome after a while, but I have a feeling I will be enjoying it much longer than others.
What about you guys? What zones seem designed for your class? Where are you in your element? Surely there are other zones that seem to be such a good fit for various classes and specs. So what are yours? If there isn't one, what would it take to make one? I'd be curious to know.
Reader Comments (37)
Priest on EOTS bridge... Mind Control jump them off PURE PWNage!
My favorite place no matter the class I'm playing at the time is hands down netherstorm, partially because my favorite faction in the game is the Consortium, and partially because the atmosphere in the zone is amazing from the coloring to the lighting, I mean just go there and stare at the sky for a while...If i had to pick a second it would prolly be Desolace, one place I could always count on being alone when i wanted to be.
As an alliance rogue my favorite zones are enemy cap.
Gang and spank.
Also as an instance is: Bf, Ramp and all 5-man coil reservoir.
As a Protadin myself my "zen" instance so far is Scholomance.
again hordes and hordes of undead, just waiting for my Holy wrath.
i just love doing that :D
whelp..
I levelled a priest first, then a prot war, then a rogue, next a hunter but, for pure fun, my arcane mage. I bounced into Outands at level 58 as most of us do, slammed myself into BF and Ramps with (luckily) a prot pally and spammed (Arcane Explosion) my way to the top of the DPS charts whilst watching the other DPS pull threat first :). Mages + prot pallys + big group pulls = ftw :)
For me the Steamvaults is awsome as a prot paly, but when im retadining i love doing...well everything cuz im showing that retadins can be just as good as anyone else and can OT if possible, and when im healing i love doing ZA for some reason. I've done ZA 100 times or so and I still love it the beutafil scenery, the trolls screams of death, and the feeling of Zul'Gurub the troll 40man raid in STV because I meet my guild that just broke up as we started entering the Black Temple BEFORE our top guild The Departed on Kul'Tiras server.
Elemental shaman here.
Gonna go with either ZA or Mount Hyjal. ZA cause it feels right. And Mount Hyjal for all the Chain Lightings:)
But for Acuall leveling definity Nagrand.
I actually fell in love with leveling my Shaman in Tanaris.
As an herbalist/alchemist hunter, I was absolutely blown away when I entered Zangarmarsh for the first time. Here were mobs that could be skinned by herbalists for herbs! Plus, the Sporeggarians had the best buyable transmute available in addition to the first pet buffing food (Sporeling Snacks). None of the other characters I've put through there has had quite the same experience, but that first impression on my main has stuck with me. It's still my favorite zone to herb in, since I'm addicted to mad alchemist potions.
Plaugelands for sure,as paladin I felt it was my duty to help Tirion Fordring with his questline to restore the once proud Paladin order and while hate his quest to death(boring hacking 20 dogs,bats and whatever) and never did get a group to finish the Stratholme part to get the painting at lv 60.
I did return with my Bloodmaiden as lv 70 and finsihed it just for the sake of lore,to feel that I as Paladin has helped restore the Knigth of the Silver Hand or what they now are gonna be called in Wrath of the Lich King The Argent Crusade which I guess is Argent Dawn and remnants of the Knights of the Silver hand that has merged into one group.
I wish there was more quests like that one above for example I felt very rogue like with my rogue when backstabbing Defias for Ravenholdt but it seems Blizzard never did finish those quest seemed to been a perfect faction for rogues and could have built some really cool lore around them to feel the part of being in some secrative assassin Guild or so.
Hope Blizzard revives Ravenholdt somehow.
I created my pally and leveled ret during the Burnin Crusade era. I didn't think much of the prot gear available until WotLK came out. From 70 to 80, I was prot as the gear improved. I will never look back. Ice crown is the zone for paladins now. The instance? Well, it doesn't matter much because of the great threat holding ability I have discovered in my new found spec.