Revendreth Impressions

 The final leveling zone (at least on your first playthrough) is Revendreth, the purgatorial gothic realm of vampire-like Venthyr.

Overall, I think this zone wins for story and artistic design (though Ardenweald comes pretty close in that second category.) You're brought into Revendreth and, naturally, mistaken for one of the sinful souls who come here. Revendreth is the purgatory of the Shadowlands, a place where horrible people who still have some potential for redemption go. The sins are purged from them through various... basically torture and torment.

The vibe here is 100% gothic horror, with dark forests, gothic architecture, and a sort of aristocratic sensibility among the Venthyr, who have weird little misshapen servants as well as gargoyle-like Stoneborn who act as soldiers.

You discover fairly early on that there's a rebellion going on, led by a Prince Renathal, and many of your early quests invovle a fight against the rebellion. Naturally, there's a twist to this, as you discover that Sire Denathrius is actually in league with the Jailer, and you have to go to the Maw to rescue Renathal and some other allies (giving you your first journey into Torghast.)

It was in this zone that I really started to feel the disempowerment of replacing epics with green leveling gear, though I also think that by speeding through the story quests, I'm a little underleveled for the content I'm doing - basically, I recommend doing your leveling dungeons and some side quests. The quests in Revendreth end with a scenario that is pretty brutal if you're underpowered, which also sadly ends with a cutscene that even the beta-specific "Captain Exposition" was broken for.

Still, having gotten the Shadowlands Loremaster achievement, I'm still only about halfway through level 57, which I suspect means that either the XP tuning needs work or they really want you to stop and smell the roses a bit to do side quests.

Revendreth naturally feels like a build-up to the expansion's first raid: Castle Nathria, which literally looms large over the entire zone.

I did feel that this zone felt a bit more interesting in terms of mechanics - for example, I figured out a little late that you could use the Venthyr all-classes ability to reach high-up platforms, which opened up some really interesting new possibilities for treasure-hunting - though as a combat ability, I think it lacks somewhat (that beings said, I think that's true for most of the all-class covenant abilities.)

Revendreth, I think, also had the most memorable characters of any of the zones, with a real feeling that you were building a group of allies. My favorite is the Mad Duke Theotar, with his obsession with tea, who is a soulbind option for those in the Venthyr covenant.

There was also a quest in which you were supposed to forge a letter, and because my Death Knight has Inscription, I got additional options for what to write (I don't think they actually make any difference, as it's implied that the person you're forging it for can't read, but still!)