Guild Wars 2

but dislike the rest of the Krtan zones (with the exception of Kessex Hills, which I hate)?

It is your preference? Why ask strangers for justification?

Yargesh.4965:

Why ask strangers for justification?

If a stranger shares the same preference, then discussing it with them might help me the reason I prefer one and not the others.

what do you like about queensdale?

probably because it has a bigger variety of events?!

Invizible.2960:

what do you like about queensdale?

I’m not sure. I thought it was because of the environment. The grass just seems a little greener, the sky a bit bluer. The perpetual overcast in Kessex Hills just saps the joy out of the zone for me. But I enjoy Lost Shore despite its drab color palette.

Then I thought it might be the pockets of serenity; the pond by Claypool, the Hunter’s Lodge in Queensforest, and Edna’s Orchid are great examples. But other zones have equally relaxing locales.

As mentioned by Marcus Greythorne, it could be the number and variety of events. From bandits raiding farms to trolls rampaging the countryside, there’s never a shortage of fun events in which to play. But, again, Queensdale hardly has the monopoly on Dynamic Events.

Ultimately, I think it’s the community. The traffic in Queensdale is never lacking. And I’m guessing that, more than anything, is the reason I enjoy it so much more than the others. That’s probably why I enjoy Lost Shore, too.

darkace.8925:

Invizible.2960:

what do you like about queensdale?

I’m not sure. I thought it was because of the environment. The grass just seems a little greener, the sky a bit bluer. The perpetual overcast in Kessex Hills just saps the joy out of the zone for me. But I enjoy Lost Shore despite its drab color palette.

Then I thought it might be the pockets of serenity; the pond by Claypool, the Hunter’s Lodge in Queensforest, and Edna’s Orchid are great examples. But other zones have equally relaxing locales.

As mentioned by Marcus Greythorne, it could be the number and variety of events. From bandits raiding farms to trolls rampaging the countryside, there’s never a shortage of fun events in which to play. But, again, Queensdale hardly has the monopoly on Dynamic Events.

Ultimately, I think it’s the community. The traffic in Queensdale is never lacking. And I’m guessing that, more than anything, is the reason I enjoy it so much more than the others. That’s probably why I enjoy Lost Shore, too.

A large part of the reason, at least for those who’ve also played Guild Wars: Prophecies, may also be that Queensdale is the closest thing in GW2 to GW1’s pre-Searing Ascalon in terms of looks, feel and serenity, all of which was lost forever after the Searing.

Torvic.8256:

A large part of the reason, at least for those who’ve also played Guild Wars: Prophecies, may also be that Queensdale is the closest thing in GW2 to GW1’s pre-Searing Ascalon in terms of looks, feel and serenity, all of which was lost forever after the Searing.

I never thought of that. I assumed my sense of nostalgia was because my first character was human, making Queensdale my first zone. But you may very well have just hit on something with that.

another thing is queensdale is the least centaur raided zone, its an actual human krytan zone….though the east side of kessex hills is still nice….the west side had its beauty destroyed by centaurs….and genderran fields is just awful with the amount of centaur camps desecrating the land

i think thats why i prefer queensdale to the others

Torvic.8256:

darkace.8925:

Invizible.2960:

what do you like about queensdale?

I’m not sure. I thought it was because of the environment. The grass just seems a little greener, the sky a bit bluer. The perpetual overcast in Kessex Hills just saps the joy out of the zone for me. But I enjoy Lost Shore despite its drab color palette.

Then I thought it might be the pockets of serenity; the pond by Claypool, the Hunter’s Lodge in Queensforest, and Edna’s Orchid are great examples. But other zones have equally relaxing locales.

As mentioned by Marcus Greythorne, it could be the number and variety of events. From bandits raiding farms to trolls rampaging the countryside, there’s never a shortage of fun events in which to play. But, again, Queensdale hardly has the monopoly on Dynamic Events.

Ultimately, I think it’s the community. The traffic in Queensdale is never lacking. And I’m guessing that, more than anything, is the reason I enjoy it so much more than the others. That’s probably why I enjoy Lost Shore, too.

A large part of the reason, at least for those who’ve also played Guild Wars: Prophecies, may also be that Queensdale is the closest thing in GW2 to GW1’s pre-Searing Ascalon in terms of looks, feel and serenity, all of which was lost forever after the Searing.

^^ This exactly, to me. It shared, for my human ele, on the first day the same element of delightful discovery and beautiful terrain.

Also, players in Queensdale are unlike anywhere else: they continually call out active events in map chat. Seriously, continually. Very much a player helping player environment.
All in all, the area has a very GW1 Ascalon feel to it. I still try to get a few daily events done there once a week for these reasons.

Jordo.5913:

another thing is queensdale is the least centaur raided zone, its an actual human krytan zone….though the east side of kessex hills is still nice….the west side had its beauty destroyed by centaurs….and genderran fields is just awful with the amount of centaur camps desecrating the land

i think thats why i prefer queensdale to the others

I’d thought about that, too. Quiet time in Queensdale feels like a time to relax and unwind a bit. Quiet time in the other zones feels like a time to rebuild the defenses in preparation for the next centaur raid.

I prefer Queensdale also but never thought about why. Perhaps because my first character was human and the introduction to the game was at Queensdale made it home, at least to me. I have tried other races but somehow Queensdale becomes home base again. In the end I keep reverting to human characters (8) and Queensdale.

It’s a pretty map, but I think that why most people like it it’s because of the events and Shadow Behemoth spawning. :P Not to insult anyone who likes the map for it’s own sake, which I am sure many of you do.

I think the other 1-15 level maps have lots of events too, and feel bad that Queensdale is so over-represented, while the other maps get semi-ignored (in comparison, at least.) I do like it too, but I never see the same level of activity that is on Queensdale, not even on Wayfarer Foothills, which is probably the second most frequented 1-15 level map.

Many (if not most) people play humans too, which attaches them to their beginning zone, I’d think.

Queensdale is cool just cuz there’s a lot of people and talking.

It actually feels like you’re playing an MMO.

The fact that there’s a lot of events so you have random stuff to do while hanging out helps.

First zone wins.

The thing about Queensdale is that it actually feels like a place populated with people rather than just random locations that conveniently have NPCs to perform their regular functions. You have small towns, farms, and monasteries and stuff. In addition the hearts for the quest are a bit more unique. And then a scary swamp on the outskirts.

When you get to Kessex Hills, you still have some of this, but then a lot of it is large stretches of boring brown mountains and large swaths of water. (ugh!). Genderran fields is even more sparse and less memorable, and the Hrathi Hintherlands is really just the same thing over and over— take the most annoying parts of the previous zones and make one solely out of it.

I do like the north part of Bloodtide coast though. It is out their in the wild in the border with pirates and risen, though near the south it just becomes like a scaled down version of Orr.

In the far future, perhaps Anet will add a way for you to acquire some kind of residence in your race’s starter zone. That might make it feel more like a home zone. Yes, I know there’s a home instance, but it’s not particularly interesting.

Queensdale has everything you need, plus you can get around without the ridiculous amount of CC you get in some other zones. Devs love crowd control on mobs, every player I’ve ever come across, on the other hand, hates it.

Plus, of course, there are LOTS of events. There’s just plenty to do all wrapped up in one nice little zone.,

ArchonWing.9480:

When you get to Kessex Hills, you still have some of this, but then a lot of it is large stretches of boring brown mountains and large swaths of water. (ugh!). Genderran fields is even more sparse and less memorable, and the Hrathi Hintherlands is really just the same thing over and over— take the most annoying parts of the previous zones and make one solely out of it.

Just be thankful Zhaitan didn’t think about making an army out of Risen Centaurs. :P

(I am glad the Skritt got spared such a woeful destiny as well.)

Queensdale is the best location in game. Really nice starting zone and kinda peaceful environment.

IMO, Queensdale simply has more enjoyable content than the other areas. It’s a lush area with many rivers, it’s more populated than other areas, and the NPC’s add something to the overall experience.

Most other areas seem to consist mainly of dirt and grass (kryta), snow and ice (shiverpeaks), dry plains (ascalon), or the worst, zombies (you-know-where). Also, the NPC’s that crowd those areas are simply faceless creatures that appear and disappear again, without any real impact on the world.

I seem to like the jungle better, but only the low areas without risen swarming all over the place. Heck, I hate everything that has to do with Orr, except for the Omnomberries!

Queensdale is the only zone that for me feels like a living zone. You have amazing NPC interaction, spotted villages and people. The environment is amazing and varied. The environment provokes questions (such as the swamp).

I dont know, but I just like queensdale. My favorite zones are…

Fields of ruin, Queensdale, harathi, dredgehaunt, and thats about it. The rest of them feel bland, sometimes copies of other zones. They sometimes feel like they have no story behind them, and I feel like each zone should hold a interesting story. Fields of ruin is the epic struggle of ascalonians and charr to get along and the separatist movement. Harathi hinterlands is a wartorn zone of mostly seraph and centaurs duking it out. Dredgehaunt is full of nostaglia and dwarven artifacts with dredge fighting to cement their freedom. Queensdale is a little slice of heaven with spotted troubles showing that war has no greatly affect everywhere. As you get further into the game and more into risen areas, you get a lot more enemies that feel like they were randomly spawned there. They don’t feel like they have a story behind them and just feel like random meat bags that we kill for loot/experience.

From my main’s point of view, Queensdale was where his journey began, and after months (years?) of fighting Zhaitan and his minions in the dark, dank and dead/undead environments of Orr, there’s no better place to go for R&R than the lush, green, lively hills of Queensdale.

Or at least he would be getting R&R if he didn’t have to constantly run around the countryside leaving mounds of dead bandits, trolls, wasps, boars, spiders, and centaurs in his wake.

Torvic.8256:

A large part of the reason, at least for those who’ve also played Guild Wars: Prophecies, may also be that Queensdale is the closest thing in GW2 to GW1’s pre-Searing Ascalon in terms of looks, feel and serenity, all of which was lost forever after the Searing.

^This. It so does. Some days when I’m running around Queensdale and Divinity’s Reach, I have these moments where I’m looking at the skies and wondering how long either is going to last, and how crazy I’d go to experience the before and after of a Searing-like event again.

“Troll up!” Pretty much the only reason I hang there.

i love queensdale, i think it’s the wide open fields of it all. it looks so much nicer to cruise around there and do dailies than, say the annoying spikey brown ascalon areas or the doom ’n gloom orr zones. even the asura/sylvari jungle areas are just too packed in to enjoy.

i do like that the zones have feels to them, but i prefer the more pleasant ones.

Because it’s a good looking, almost peaceful zone.

I love Kessex Hills because it’s a warzone. It just needs a ton of people to be fun.

achensherd.2735:

^This. It so does. Some days when I’m running around Queensdale and Divinity’s Reach, I have these moments where I’m looking at the skies and wondering how long either is going to last, and how crazy I’d go to experience the before and after of a Searing-like event again.

Indeed, not to mention wondering when and where another Queensdale-like area and Divinity’s Reach-like area would ever emerge (after all, even after 250 years, Ascalon had apparently never returned to what it was like before the Searing).

It’s beautiful, it’s well laid out, it has a lot of fun events, it’s populated and seems to have a friendly welcoming map chat. And since my first character was human, I have a lot of nostalgia for it (can you have nostalgia after 8 months?).

I feel the same way about Divinity’s Reach – I love going back there because it’s beautiful and I have a lot of good feelings attached to it from when I was just a little noob. It’s a shame the cities other than LA don’t have much of a population.

I don’t know. Queensdale is a decent zone, but Harathi Hinterlands appeals to me more than any other human zone (and probably any other zone, period), because it has that same beauty with the addition of dynamic battle lines.

Honestly I was in Queensdale yesterday looking to do events and couldn’t find any, well I found two that I did twice only because I couldn’t find any others. There’s a number of “gather X” events that simply got descended on by mobs so quickly that they were over in seconds. “The rabbits are eating the waterm … oh never mind.” At least in Shiverpeaks there’s always something going on all over the map (well the snowbound portion).

Just curious: who is Queensdale’s Gwen?

Shadow Behemoth!

Personally prefer Metrica province because none of the Queensdale drama and trolls ever go there..

I do agree the starter zones are totally unbalanced with DE quantities, Metrica is positively empty in the Events areas though..