Once you hit level 98, you're free to enter Nagrand. Often cherished as the most idyllic and actually pleasant-looking place in Outland (though honestly, I always found it pretty boring, and tedious given the single flight point in the whole zone - which is thankfully not the case in Draenor's Nagrand,) Nagrand is the home of the Warsong Clan, who are now the top clan in the Iron Horde, thanks to their leader Grommash Hellscream taking the position of Warchief.
Some SPOILERS here. If you're ultra-sensitive, best not to read these "first impressions" articles.
Nagrand is still filled with grassy plains and plenty of wildlife, though there's a slight hint of the kind of dry savannah that you'd expect a clan of nomadic warriors to call home. It's no Barrens, and frankly, it's more similar to Outland's Nagrand in climate. The main thing you'll notice, though, is that the Iron Horde is very strong here. Watchtowers dot the landscape, and when you first enter the zone, you immediately get attacked by some Warsong Raiders.
With Grommash off in Tanaan, ruling as Warchief, he has placed none other than his alternate-universe future son as Warlord of the Warsong Clan. That's right, this is where Garrosh has wound up. And just as he segregated Orgrimmar during his time as Warchief of the true (and the True) Horde, Garrosh has declared that only the Warsong and Burning Blade Clans are allowed to stay in Nagrand (the Burning Blade are apparently long-time allies of the Warsong.) I expect that the final reckoning with Garrosh is close at hand, which also suggests some symmetry, as this is where Horde players first met him.
There's plenty of hunting to be done in Nagrand, and Hemet Nesingwary has set up there, but ironically, he's not actually holding a hunting safari (at least not yet,) and is instead attempting to help in the effort against the Iron Horde.
The very obviously center of the threat there is Grommashar, which looks like an Orgrimmar-sized city in southern Nagrand. You'll definitely come across it as you traverse the zone.
Yet the Warsong are not the only threats in Nagrand. After all, this is where Highmaul is, which is the capital of the Ogre Empire. I've only had a few encounters with the Ogres, but I expect that I'll be seeing more of them as I quest up to 100. Additionally, Nagrand is where Oshu'gun is, aka the Genedar, which is the ship that the Draenei arrived on centuries before. I have yet to get the quests sending me there, but I would not be surprised if there was a bit more Shadow Council activity over there.
Now that I've seen every zone coming in 6.0 (and an an aside, I don't so much mind that Tanaan Jungle isn't releasing with the expansion, but they really should have been clear about that from the word go,) what do I think of Draenor as a whole?
It's cool. There's a wonderful feeling of nostalgia here for the Burning Crusade. That said, the thing I liked most about BC was the weird, outer-spacy feel to the place (Netherstorm being the best example of that.) Still, as big time-travel nerd (even if this isn't technically time-travel,) it's really cool to see how wildly transformed the zones have been. Obviously, some of it doesn't really link up perfectly (Skettis, for instance, looks nothing like it did in BC) but I love the idea of seeing how much things changed. And given that the old Outland is still going to be there, and the fact that Draenor was clearly built from the ground up, there's no sense of this being cobbled together. If anything, this makes me wish that they could go back and make Outland look as good as Draenor, but that would require unlimited time and effort.
Questing has evolved considerably. There's now a kind of happy medium with the freedom and choice you got in Vanilla and BC questing and the clear, structured storytelling of the more linear Wrath, Cata, and Mists style. Assuming they don't nerf XP gains (or increase XP requirements,) you're not going to finish every quest in every zone unless you choose to. Every zone has an interesting story in it, with the possible exception of Gorgrond (which is my least favorite zone, to be frank.)
Also, the advantage of a ten-level expansion is immediately evident. Cataclysm and Mists both had five levels each. Draenor has ten levels, but the climb from 90 to 100 is as fast if not faster than say 85-90. What this means is that you get your "dings" pretty frequently, and you get to play with your new perks. Also, your old epics from Mists don't degrade as suddenly as had happened previously, because with more levels, they can make secondary stat ratings degrade at a more gradual pace.
Despite the speed of leveling, there isn't the sense that there's not enough there. You have some truly epic moments during the leveling process, and there's a pretty wide range of stuff that you get to see.
Garrisons are still coming along, but the general sense I get is that they feel pretty well-integrated into the leveling process. The main takeaway from them is that everyone actually treats you with respect for once. You are referred to in quests as "Commander," (which actually opens up the option to have voice actors actually refer to the player character.) It's clear that every member of your faction that's there is working for you. They still send you on quests, yes, but the idea is that they recognize that you're a freaking badass, and the only person who could handle it.
Even the Iron Horde takes note of this, occasionally trying to trap or assassinate you during the course of your questing. So.. yeay? (Yes.)
Overall, I think Draenor feels very fleshed-out. Part of this is certainly that the various characters are pre-established. But before Draenor, I probably couldn't tell you that much about what the difference between the Shattered Hand and the Burning Blade were. We also do get a much clearer image of Draenei culture and society (I'm going to feel so much more guilty when killing Exarch Maladaar in Auchenai Crypts from now on.)
I'm eager to see how the storyline develops as the various content patches are released. There's still no word on the Infinite Dragonflight, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled (and unless I've misinterpreted a certain quest in Spires of Arak due to wishful thinking, there is one personal favorite Warcraft enemy that might be coming back.)
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