TYI 7: Screenshot of the Year

The end of the year, I think, is a most appropriate time for another entry from Saz’s Through Your Interface series — specifically this one:

7. Best Screen Shot of the Year
Show us the best screen shot you believe that you have ever taken and why you think it is the best (content, meaning, how you framed it, etc).

I was going to be lazy and re-use this screenshot I took very early in Cataclysm:

I am extremely amused by this shot because I was just flying around doing Archaeology and exploring the Shattered world when I got stuck on a tree branch… but it wasn’t an ordinary tree. I love the way my Netherdrake is pinched between the Ancient’s fingers, and how it looks like the Ancient is considering eating us.
But I took this screenshot in 2010, so I had to go digging in my screenshot folders after all. Here are a few favorites from among the screenshots I took in 2011. I’m certainly no great screenshot artist like Angelya or Riorel or Fannon, and I don’t know that any of these really qualifies as “the best screenshot I have ever taken”, but at least some of them are pretty. 😉

The Cathedral of Dawn from the roof of the Stoneward Prison.

Deathwing over Mount Kajaro.

The Ruins of Vashj’elan in the Lost Isles.

The 3D movement in the Al’Akir fight was such a pain that after ES downed him on 25 man, we never went back to Throne of the Four Winds. That’s a bit of a shame, really, because the Conclave of Winds fight was a lot of fun, and the whole instance is incredibly gorgeous. I took these shots while falling through the air after being blasted off the platform by a Wind Burst.

Who doesn’t love those bears up there? 😛

That Worgen and I look like we are doing a sort of dance around the top of the tree.

One of my favorite things about the Firelands dailies was seeing Druids of all races working together, and seeing the Cenarion Circle integrating the Troll and Worgen Druids.



I noticed that, in the strike team at Sethria’s Roost, the Tauren was always Bear, the Night Elf was Resto, the Troll was Balance (though never in Boomkin form), and the Worgen was Cat. I was delighted the first time I saw the group of the Druid trainers from the level 1-5 areas patrolling the Regrowth.

I didn’t manage to get a decent screenshot of the Malorne vs Rhyolith showdown until my third time playing through the opening Molten Front quests.

A little patch of Azeroth in the Firelands. Who are the invaders damaging the native habitat now?


The Molten Front strikes me as somewhat akin to Cenarion Hold — the Night Elves and Druids committing themselves to an endless watch in a hostile environment.

We’ve all looked down into the Maelstrom, but how many of us have looked up?



Deathwing’s violent exit from Deepholm not only destroyed the World Pillar, but also punched open a hole into the Twisting Nether!

I wondered why the Fractured Front in Deepholm was so named until I flew over it with Kerisa and first looked down to see the huge chunk of ceiling that had crashed into the floor, then looked up to see a gaping wound letting the Twisting Nether leak in.


These shots would be better if I’d zoomed all the way into first-person perspective before taking them.

And finally, a few pictures from Azeroth’s celebrity Wedding Of The Year.

Through Your Interface

1. Favorite Hangout
2. Player Housing
3. Representing You
4. Greatest Accomplishment
5. Title of Choice
6. Favorite Line of Poetry/Lyric
7. Screenshot of the Year
8. Vacation Spot
9. Your Character’s Hometown
10. Your WoW Crew
11. Profession of Choice
12. Inspiring Imagery
13. A Fond Memory
14. Place Swap
15. A Fairy-Tale Image