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by KYABen on 01.26.11

It started with earthquakes. Then the doomsday cult known as Twilight's Hammer came out of hiding. They stood on street corners in every major city, offering succor from the doom about to descend upon the world, if you would but relinquish your worldly holdings and join them. We put a stop to it; or so we thought ...

... That's when the fire elementals came.

World of Warcraft's third expansion, Cataclysm, sees the rise of a new villain, the ancient dragon known as Deathwing. Long in retreat in the elemental plane of Deepholm after his defeat during the Second War, Deathwing has once again burst forth (quite literally) to take his vengeance on the world and everyone in it. As the Black Dragon Aspect broke free from the earth, it caused a ... ahem ... cataclysmic chain of events that would change the face of Azeroth forever.

The level cap has been increased from 80 to 85, and five new zones have been released for players to explore. Each zone has within it its own unique story, as it fits into the greater plot involving Deathwing and the Twilight's Hammer. For levels 80-82, players can choose to enter Mount Hyjal and take on Ragnaros, who has unleashed legions of fire elementals in the zone with the intention of destroying the World Tree. Mount Hyjal isn't very different from the zones you'll have quested in during past expansions. To be clear, the quests themselves are much more fun, and there's definitely a story there, but overall it's just another zone. On the other side of the coin, though, is the underwater realm of Vashj'ir. This ancient city was once the home of Lady Vashj before an event known as the Sundering — an ancient event in which the world of Azeroth was violently reshaped following the War of the Ancients. Vashj'ir possesses a uniqueness that some of the other zones lack, not only in that it's entirely submerged, but that the questline delves deep into Azeroth's past, offering an uncommon peek into the lore behind the World of Warcraft. The artwork here is also rather breathtaking at times. The zone is huge, and it's populated not only by NPCs you'll need for quests, but by all sorts of colorful coral, schools of fish, eels, crabs ... you get the idea. Suffice it to say, Vashj'ir is one of if not the most visually appealing of the new zones.

Next on our stop is the earth plane of Deepholm. This zone is, as you can probably imagine, underground. Filled with elementals and funny looking troggs, the entire zone is also shaded in a monotonous shade of bluish-gray. There are some bright spots, however, here and there in the zone. If you stick around long enough, you may find yourself privy to an eye-jarring shade of fluorescent pink in the northern part. With the stark contrast between dark and light, Deepholm sort of makes me think of playing the game in a giant black-light poster plastered around the inside of a giant dark fishbowl.

The final two zones in the game are Uldum and the Twilight Highlands. Uldum, located in southern Kalimdor is an Egyptian-inspired area home to a quadruped race of cat people known as the Ramkahen. There's a bit of a civil war going on down there, and your character will find him/herself right in the middle of it. Aside from that, Harrison Jones is back, and this time with a huge quest chain spanning the entire zone. I don't want to give too much away, but in my opinion, Uldum possesses by far the best questing experience in Cataclysm and is well worth the time spent there.

Finally, after a pretty epic quest chain, you will find yourself in the Twilight Highlands on the front lines of the battle with the Twilight's Hammer. There's quite a bit of story here involving the Red Dragon flight and their leader Alexstrazsa, and you will see the return of the Dragonmaw Orc clan as well as Cho' gall, both of whom played a role in the earlier games in the Warcraft universe. Blizzard makes heavy use of their phasing technology in this new content, and you will find as you progress through the zones, the world around you will change — sometimes drastically. They have also included numerous little cutscenes into your questing experience. For some this may serve as a fun little break in between quests, assisting in the progression of the story and further immersing you in the game. For others, it might seem like an irritating break in your quest grind to max level. For the former, you're going to love Uldum. For the latter, thankfully you can hit the escape key and skip the scripted scenes to continue your game.

Although the Twilight Highlands is the last of the new zones, it is nowhere near the end of the content in Cataclysm. Although not technically part of the expansion, and available whether or not you choose to purchase it, the entire leveling experience in the old world has been revamped. The days of ambiguous quest information and mind-numbing collection quests are at an end. Instead, the developers have chosen to overhaul each of the older zones' questing experiences in favor of the new Cataclysm style. Although a few quests from classic WoW still remain, much of the content has been updated to reflect the changes that happened in the first two expansions. As far as Azeroth is concerned, the Lich King and Illidan are no more. Each of the old zones is now an entirely self-contained leveling experience with its own unique story and flavor, as well as a new soundtrack. Some old favorites can still be heard from time to time, but there are plenty of new, equally awe-inspiring tracks to level to. That is, if you don't just turn off the in-game sound and let Pandora play in the background.

I would like to point out, though, the content from level 1-60 has been changed; the areas of Outland (Burning Crusade expansion) and Northrend (Wrath of the Lich King) have not. It provides for something of an odd "time traveling" experience when leveling — one which Blizzard has noted, and plans are in the makes for addressing. When such a thing will happen and whether it comes in a massive patch or another expansion has yet to be announced.

Like the previous expansions, upon reaching the level cap, new challenges await your character. Blizzard has decided to take a 180 from the Wrath of the Lich King ideology and make heroic dungeon runs require much more cooperation and attention. Instead of having your tank run through the dungeon picking up enemies to be casually destroyed with area of effect attacks, players must coordinate the individual abilities of their respective class in order to be successful. The use of crowd control, interrupts, and the ability to heal yourself has come back with a vengeance. Although leveling from 80-85 won't take you very long (part of which because of the lowered level cap, and part of which due to time flying by because it's just so much fun), gearing up for raids just might. Being part of a guild is more valuable than ever at this point in World of Warcraft.

In a seeming effort to prod players to join guilds, Cataclysm includes a new guild leveling and achievements feature. As you play the game, whether it is dungeon runs, player vs. player battlegrounds or simply questing, you will gain something called "guild experience," which causes your guild to level, just like your character. As your guild levels and/or reaches certain achievements, it will unlock various perks that, while no means necessary, definitely serve to improve the quality of life for the members. Some of the perks include bonuses to character experience and reputation gains, as well as unique mounts and new heirloom items, further serving to expedite the leveling of alternate characters.

In addition to the revamped old content and the new leveling experience is the inclusion of two new races: the Goblins (Horde) and Worgen (alliance). Both races include an opening quest chain similar in style to the one we saw for Death Knights in Wrath of the Lich King, though much longer and more involved. The money-grubbing Goblins of Kezan have a very silly, humorous, tongue-in-cheek style. With their quests involving the collection of pop cans, numerous beatings, shake downs, and thievery, as well as cruising around town in your own little hot rod to pick up your friends, this race will cater to those with a penchant for the whimsical.

The Worgen, on the other hand, offer a much darker take on events. Complete with top hats, monocles, and some cockney accents, the 19th century London-esque city of Gilneas is under attack by a legion of wolf men. It's up to you to save who you can and get them out of the city before all is lost. Of course, as (bad) luck would have it, you're bitten in the process and become one of the fiends. The story goes on to show the surviving Gilneans found a way to control their bestial tendencies and exist as half-human, half-wolf. One of the racial abilities of the Worgen is to be able to switch between human and werewolf forms when out of combat, allowing for some additional fun, or for you role-players out there, some interesting experiences.

Not to leave out fans of player vs. player combat, Cataclysm brings with it two new battlegrounds, as well as a new system for rating battleground performance. Much like the arena, players will have the option now to run battlegrounds in a premade group, be rated based on their wins and losses, and have the ability to earn the same gear as those who participate in arena fights.

The two new battlegrounds available for play are The Battle for Gilneas and Twin Peaks. In The Battle for Gilneas, the Horde and Alliance will go at it, each trying to capture key points in order to take the city of Gilneas for their respective faction. Twin Peaks is a capture-the-flag style battleground, located in the new Twilight Highlands zone. There is also a new world PvP location: The Isle of Tol Barad. A fortress off the coast of Eastern Kingdoms, Tol Barad houses a raid instance much like Wrath of the Lich King's Wintergrasp. In order to enter the instance, one faction must capture the zone during one of the recurring battles that happen throughout the day.

Depending on how you look at it, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm could easily be the largest expansion to date. You can spend many, many hours simply enjoying the revamped content before even setting foot in the 80-85 areas, and it would be time well spent.

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