Cataclysm so far

Here is a quick review of my impressions of the latest World of Warcraft expansion.

Talents
I find the talent trees to be fun to level - the alternating “talent-ability-talent” leveling path is fun and interesting, even though some classes feel more boring than others. Some talents are still mandatory. The initial level 10 ability makes classes more diverse and specialized early on. 4/5

Reshaped zones
Orgrimmar: Awesome. there are now more than one fully-featured zones, the city seems alive and is probably the most changed city. 5/5

Ashenvale: Cool zone on the Horde side, with lots of fighting going on, phasing, simili-cutscenes. I tried a bit on the Alliance side, nice change of pace there too. 4/5

Desolace: The northern part isn’t changed much, but a forest popped out in the middle and is vibrant. The unchanged part do feel out of place. 3.5/5

Feralas: I’ve only touched a bit of Feralas, but the added Alliance camps help a lot. 4/5 so far.

Durotar: A zone I found utterly boring just got better. The flooded parts are nice, my only gripe is the clearly visible difference between “old” and “new”. 4/5

Shadowfang Keep: An old favorite has slightly changed. It’ll remain a favorite, as it’s just as fun. 4/5

Deadmines: Completely changed enemies and bosses, and there are nice touches here and there. I had a lot of fun doing this instance. 5/5

Stormwind: Mostly cosmetic changes. The new Dwarven district is much better, some textures have been improved, and the cemetery area is really beautiful. 4/5

Flight in old Azeroth
This is clearly one of the best feature of the game. 5/5

New Zones

Hyjal: I haven’t been able to touch many new zones, but this one is fun! The only few frustrating quests give a great reward (cool pets and blues). The story is great, and you feel like you’re actually doing something thanks to phasing. 4.5/5

Vashjir: I won’t rate this zone, I can just say it’s beautiful. I’ll skip it for now, and my next level 80’ll go there for sure!

Gilneas (Worgen starting zone): The starting area is moody. I felt like I was playing Ravenloft Online (if such a game existed, don’t look for it!). The story is nice, too, with a cool cutscene; you gradually become a Worgen, which is a nice touch. The area feels a bit overly serious, and the few laughs you get thus feel “out of place”. A friend of mine found quests to be boring, but I believe if you take the time to read the texts, you’ll enjoy the story much more.

Still, it didn’t reach my expectations. 3.5/5

Goblin starting zone: Kezan and the Lost Isles are some of the most fun I had in WoW yet. It’s really funny. I mean, you get a car, a radio and idea-giving potions! Phasing is used efficiently as well. Best starting zone? Probably. Although the next one is a contender… 5/5

Echo Isles: Not really a new area, but finally Trolls have their own starting area! And it is cool too! You get some close-up time with Voljin (troll leader) and the story presents the Horde’s inner troubles. It is a nice introduction to Horde politics, and the area feels alive. It is shorter than the Goblin’s zone, is less funny, but it feels more epic and heroic. 5/5

Dungeons
So far, I haven’t been able to enter any Cataclysm dungeon. I found the entrance to the Throne of the Tides, only to face a 40 minutes wait. Oh well, I hope it changes soon!

PVP
While leveling, PVP is really hectic. In my experience, some classes have some trouble surviving in some brackets, even with 5-level brackets. The experience feels unbalanced; a rogue managed to kill my level 42 decently geared Priest while I had a shield on by simply stunning me, then killed me before I could recover. And that’s with a full, Disciline Power Shield, and a full health bar, and a HoT on, in a 1 vs 1 situation. Yup. I’m bitter about it! So until I see how PVP fares at level 85, I’ll give a 2/5 for balance issues, but a 4/5 for the wise decision to divide bracket and give more battleground choices at lower levels.

Loot
Most quest loot looks the same, though some of the new gear, even at low levels, looks nice. 2.5/5