10 Times Video Games Made You Feel

The scale of World of Warcraft at its height is difficult to overstate. It was the biggest game in the world, and a big reason was the way it ensnared its players with the sheer majesty of its world.

Its purest expression was perhaps the player’s first introduction to the game’s fast travel system, the flight paths between its various locations.

The wonder of flying was impressive in itself, as the expansive worlds of WoW rolled out before us in a way rare for games at the time. But the moment was truly created by choosing to make that first flight into one of the game world’s capital cities.

The spectacle of the huge, beautiful, complex cities, from the lava-lit underground halls of Ironforge to the leafy temples of Darnassus, showed off WoW’s ambition and scale in a way other MMOs could not compete with. Players felt wonder as they soared over the rooftops of Stormwind or Orgrimmar, and plenty of them stayed for a long, long time.