The Daily Grind: What's your favorite winter zone?

OK, how weird is the whole "Christmas in July" thing, anyway? Are people jonesing for sleigh bells and mistletoe so badly they can't wait for a few months? Who thought it would be a smashing idea to make us think of the cold, dark days of winter in the middle of 90-degree weather?

So if we're already at the weird point of thinking about snow while our thermometers are melting, we might as well go the whole hog and talk about winter zones in MMOs. I've always been partial to a good snow-and-ice-themed area, whether it be Winterspring in World of Warcraft, Forochel in Lord of the Rings Online or, y'know, Hoth.

What's your favorite winter zone in MMOs? Which areas make you want to wrap a warm fur cloak about you as you venture forth into the fluffy powder and pristine icefields? And what makes that zone special for you?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

Reader Comments (42)

Definitely Iron Pine Peaks in RIFT, which incidentally is also featured on the post's screenshot ;)

Beautiful zone.

Then again the pre New Frontiers Midgard RvR zones were also pretty awesome back in the day

@eLdritchZ

I agree ^ ^

Rift is doing a wonderful job! I can't wait for patch 1.4 for even more cool things to do!

@eLdritchZ
Iron Pine Peaks for me. The ice on the frozen lake is the best I've seen in any game -- MMO or otherwise.

I agree Pine Peaks in RIFT. I also think the winter blizzard battles in the instance 'The Realm of Fae' in Rift is cool too.

I played Rift for a couple months then let it expire and went to Runes of Magic. I am happy to say that I am back. I am sooo glad to hear of the new changes happening. I want to thank the Rift Development Team, you guys are the greatest. I just added a 6 month subscription to my account. I have had more positive news from Rift changes the last few days than I could have imagined. I am back due to the cross realm dungeon finder that is coming out in 1.4. Best gaming experience I ever had during Wrath. Now I hear that the dungeons will be able to be scaled for single player or 2 player. My excitement level is through the roof. We will have to see how they handle the ninja loot stealing players but I have confidence in the Rift Development Team to handle this. The steps here are going well beyond WOW's options. Thanks again Rift Development Team!!! As it stands now I may stay with Rift beyond the release of SWTOR (since SWTOR is stating they will not have cross realm dungeon finder due to 'ruining the communiy' - what a joke). 'Community' is such a relitive term - I use to have a 'community' around my parents dining room table playing Dungeons and Dragons rolling 12 and 24 sided dice with my friends but online gaming killed that right. Damn online gaming for ruining the 'community' lol. Go Rift!!!

@eLdritchZ

I'd have to say Ammold in Eve. The stars are so bright away from the big cities. I can almost see the dancing girls at the asteroid belts now.

@eLdritchZ

I really like Iron Pine Peaks too, and also especially the frozen lake. First time in the zone I got a real Guild Wars vibe with all the snowfall and Guild Wars has a number of great wintery zones too.

I always liked Everquest 1's winter "area": Halas, Everfrost, Permafrost and the lead in to the dungeon Splitpaw.

@Dracones

Same, I really enjoyed both leveling and raiding there, and I liked barbarians although I never played one. I remember it had a bit of a renaissance during the LDoN expansion, too.

Yes, hands down Iron Pine Peaks.

Other notables for me include but are not limited to:

Hoth in SWG (even though it is just a dungeon)
Shiverpeak Mountains in Guild Wars, and more than likely Guild Wars 2
Everfrost in EQ2

My favorite used to be the north part of Ered Luin in the Thorin's Hall area in LOTRO until they messed it up. Now I hate it. My new favorite winter zone is the Yule festival zone in LOTRO. Favorite part is the little jingle-bells hanging over the sidewalks that you hear throughout the town. GORGEOUS! Oh! And the snowmen!

@Develyn I agree with Winter-home (Yule Festival Instance in Lotro) - I had a blast during the festival - performing plays with other characters, throwing snowballs, eating contests...

I've always been attracted to winter/snow zones in games. I love Forochel and the Misty Mountains.

I always wanted City of Heroes to create a huge winter-like zone. I remember when they turned on the ice for the first time allowing us to slide around on the various water surfaces. That was a ton of fun. CoH does have the fantastic ski lodge instance as well as the mission where you go rescue Baby New Year so big props to them for those.

Forochel in LOTRO.

@Creepo

Seconded.

Northrend!! The visuals are stunning wether you're on the ground or checking it out from the air. It's truly awe inspiring.

Forochel, hands down. No other game has me actually feel "cold" as I go through it or flinch when I hear the iceburgs crashing or creaking.

Another vote for Lotro - Forochel and Misty Mountains are both great for screenshot candy.

Borean Tundra.

I know a lot of people really hated it as a zone, but the music when you zoned into the Alliance harbour for the first time, along with all the interesting scenery made it incredible.

I'd have to say Xarcabard in FFXI. I'm partial to the game of course, it was my first mmo, I spent 6 years of my live on that game. The zone scared the hell out of me when I first visited in my late 30's (character level). I still would sneak and invisible my self own up to level 75 out of habit, even though the monsters would no longer aggro. The mix of undead and arcane monsters, with the occasional dragon, plus the creepy zone music was very fitting for the zone.

Having spent most of my childhood growing up in new england, I've always had a soft spot for winter zones. I'm partial to most of the areas already listed (excepting lotro, sadly never got around to it)- but Xarcabard is definetly the one that stands out the most to me.
FF11's graphics were damn gorgeous for it's time if you had the hardware for it

Various Midgard zones in DaoC had really cool snow zones, but Shrouded Isles had the best one in my opinion. Even with a high population server back in the day, you could wander around and get lost in the desolate tundra. Had to kill mammoths and movalt (i think?) and cavemen. Good times.

It kinda breaks the mood when I go to a supposedly dangerous, isolated snow zone and see like 30 people running around next to me. I dunno.

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The Daily Grind: What's your favorite winter zone?

Reader Comments (42)

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 8:08AM eLdritchZ said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 8:57AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 9:03AM aurickle said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 10:41AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 1:03PM Bramen said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 1:43PM Misterlee said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 8:52AM Dracones said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2011 8:30AM Jenks said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 8:54AM belgeode said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 8:54AM Develyn said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 10:13AM Snorii said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 9:04AM Creepo said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 11:32AM PrimeSynergy said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 9:12AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 9:23AM MMOaddict said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 9:35AM Boojum said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 9:51AM Dril said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 10:07AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 11:00AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 21st 2011 10:16AM (Unverified) said

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