Cataclysm: General Impressions

My look at Cataclsym is going to be spread out across several entries talking about the main features I'm interested in, but I wanted to start off with some general impressions about the expansion overall.

One of the first things that anyone playing will notice is the change wrought upon the world by The Shattering. Zones are rendered at a better graphics quality, and the terrain was changed, and in most cases made more interesting. Before, every zone was a little monotone. Not as badly as the crayon-colors of Outland, but there was still only one general texture. Now, regions have a more natural feel. Whether it's new oases in a desert, or a pit of roiling twilight badness, the world feels more complete.

The ability to fly in Azeroth has opened up all kinds of new experiences. Traveling through the old world is no longer a burden, and you can better see the destruction and new layout of the world.

Cooking, fishing, and most of the Jewelcrafting dailies are centered in Stormwind, making getting those knocked out a little less obnoxious than previous expansions (yes, cooking dailies in Wrath were in Dalaran, but for the rest, and through Burning Crusade, it required a lot of running all over the world).

It's also convenient having portals to each of the five new zones available (after completing some initial quests to get to the zone). This makes the prospect of heading back to SW for whatever reason (dailies, hitting the auction house, whatever) less of a pain in the ass.

So far, my only real issue with the expansion is that Chaos Orbs (this expansions equivalent of Primal Nethers and Frost Orbs) are soulbound. I find it a pity that Blizzard caved to the idiots that couldn't figure out to hit "Need" if they want it.

Over the next week-ish, I'll be going deeper on Hunters, Worgen, Goblins, Achievements, Dungeons, the underwater zone of Vashj'ir, and finally the new WoW website. But my overall impression is that this is the best version of WoW since it's creation in 2004.

Bravo, Blizzard. Bravo.