Hyjal it is!

One of the questions I’m asked is which starting zone am I going to choose, Hyjal or Vashj’ir. I keep going back and forth on this, but I’m 99.9999% certain I’m going to start with Hyjal. Ultimately I plan to do both, it’s just that I probably won’t get to Vashj’ir until I’m level 85.

The order in which I’ll hit the zones is something along these lines,

  1. Hyjal
  2. Deepholm
  3. Uldum
  4. Twilight Highlands
  5. Vashj’ir

Now my decision on where to start is based on where I want to finish. Hyjal is the home to the Guardians of Hyjal reputation. The only way to earn this rep. is by completing quests in Hyjal and wearing their tabard. The tabard is available at friendly and it takes about a 1/2 hour to reach that.

Looking over the quests, I’m guessing that by the time I complete Hyjal I should be revered which means I’ll be able to get Acorn of the Daughter Tree, an ilvl 346 neck piece. At exalted they have a nice pair of epic boots.

Now Vashj’ir also has a reputation associated with it – the Earthen Ring. And like the Guardians of Hyjal they too have nice rewards at revered and exalted. The difference is the quests that grant Earthen Ring rep. are spread out in multiple zones besides Vashj’ir. In fact, the majority of the quest reputation comes from Deepholm and Twilight Highlands.

While I know that I’d enjoy Vashj’ir more, I think from a progression standpoint I’m better off with Hyjal. So Hyjal it is because I want my purple sh@#t kickers.

Here’s a brief look at the hunter related rewards offered by these two factions.

Guardians of Hyjal

Earthen Ring


5 Comments on “Hyjal it is!”

  1. As raid leader, I'm being deferred to on where to take our guild for our gigantic leveling parties that we're holding next week. This didn't exactly clear things up for me, but I'm a bit more informed on the decision, so thanks. As of right now it's Vashj'ir, only because I want to jump into instances as quickly as possible to test my mettle, and Vash has one of the entry-level ones (the other being Blackrock Caverns).

  2. I may change my mind at the last minute. Blizzard put up a poll today about which zone folks were choosing to start with.

    By far the majority of people are choosing Hyjal, so there is something to be said for the less crowded Vashj'ir. I really like Vashj'ir in beta.

  3. I hadn't seen the poll but figured as much, which also helped my decision. If it were just me, I might do Hyjal, but the number of people that will be there is more off-putting when I'll be group-questing with anywhere from 4-12 people from my guild.

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