How do you like the old world Dragonriding races? What zone should get its own course next?

Earlier this week I wondered what events you wish you had participated in when they first went live. Well today I’ve added a new entry to my list: the Kalimdor Cup. Why? Because the Eastern Kingdoms Cup has started and I am having a blast running these courses throughout the old world.

It’s not that I don’t like the Dragonriding races to begin with. It’s just that on the Dragon Isles, the landscape seems designed to accommodate them so the races can feel monotonous. Not so in the Eastern Kingdoms as smaller maps and tighter spaces mean that the course designers had to get creative. Not to say that every course is great, mind you — Krazzworks Klash in Twilight Highlands is more annoying than interesting in my humble opinion — but there’s something about flying through the Karazhan tower that almost feels sacrilegious.

The speed of the races in the old world is a factor in its favor as well; every subsequent expansion since Cataclysm has improved the graphics considerably so it’s always weird to see two-dimensional leaf clusters and lower resolution buildings while flying slowly through the older zones. When traveling at Dragonriding speeds, however, you’re not able to see the distinction anymore — Gilneas looks as good as Valdrakken at 810% speed. I know this doesn’t necessarily read as a positive but it honestly is and if a revamp of the old world is in the offing, I hope that the impact of Dragonriding is a major consideration in redesign, and I hope the races return on a more permanent basis as well.

Fortunately it sounds like the development team for World of Warcraft is planning to add Dragonriding races to as many zones as possible, with a possible exception for the Shadowlands — although I have to admit the Maw Run would be epic. If the course designers put in as much care for upcoming races as they did the ones in Eastern Kingdom I definitely look forward to doing them.

How about you? Did you enjoy the Kalimdor Cup when it was available? Have you had a chance to do any of the Eastern Kingdoms races yet, and if so which one is your favorite? And besides the Maw, what previous expansion zone do you think would be a great setting for a Dragonriding race?