The War Within: Hallowfall

This post may contain spoilers for The War Within.

Hallowfall may very well be the best zone ever created in World of Warcraft.

Now, I'm probably a little biased as a paladin player, but everything about the zone is just perfect. The Arathi are excellent. It's so nice to have a zone of basically Lawful Good people and have it be played straight, with none of "the good guys are really the bad guys" twists that have infected modern media. (Well, there is the Priory, but even that is more a case of the good guys getting desperate.)

The motif of fires and flames holding back the darkness, and Lamplighters who go into the darkness, works perfectly in this expansion. It also has surprising parallels with the kobolds and their use of candles to hold back the darkness. I'm waiting for the inevitable meeting of the kobolds and the Arathi, where the kobolds decide that the Sacred Flame is the biggest candle of them all, and become Lamplighters.

The questing plate armour is superb, perhaps the first armor that has surpassed Judgment in the eyes of the community. At least until the Judgement remaster was announced.

There are two very memorable side-quests. First, Alyza Bowblaze, who is quite likely to lead a crusade when she grows up. The second is The Last Mage, which is worth avoiding spoilers even in a spoiler-marked post.

Hallowfall is a superb zone, one of Warcraft's best. It manages to be a standout even in a very strong expansion.