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World of Warcraft – Cataclysm Beta Week 1
Posted by Shannon at 1:20 pm Geek Speak
Jul 112010
As some of our followers on Twitter or friends on Facebook have seen, I was randomly selected to participate in the WoW Cataclysm Expansion Beta last week. I've been playing World of Warcraft since about February 2005 with a few breaks here and there. I LOVE to level new characters and explore new content. I'll be doing a weekly update to let those of you who would like a "casual's" look into the beta join my experiences. Don't worry, I'll be structuring these posts so that people who don't want spoilers won't be able to see things they don't want to.
A disclaimer: I don't read the forums, either official or unofficial, and I really don't have an idea about what will be different in Cataclysm unless I experience it (or if Matt tells me). I normally like to wait for an expansion when it goes live instead of dredging up every detail beforehand, so I won't be offended if you don't read this!
One last thing before getting into my post; I don't like doing "end game" content or dungeons, so you'll be getting a leveling experience rather than a lot of information on the new level 80 – 85 content. I just enjoy playing the game!
My adventure begins under the fold! (SPOILERS below)
New Races
I love being able to play new races in WoW. When Burning Crusade came out I diligently made multiple Draenei and Blood Elf characters to try out. I'm a Horde (PvE) girl at heart, but love to see new thing in game. The Cataclysm Beta is no different. The first thing I did was make a Worgen Rogue and a Goblin Hunter.
Worgen
Currently in the beta you can only make male Worgen, which disappointed me, I'm all about the girls! Reluctantly, I made a MALE Worgen Rogue named Puppybutt.
The starting area, Gilneas, is very action oriented. You start as a normal Human trying to save your town from a Worgen attack. At one point you get bit and anyone who knows lycanthropy lore knows what will happen: you get turned into one! The strange thing I found disorienting was that when you create a Worgen character you get to pick fur color, hairstyles and such, but when you enter the game you're Human. Apparently I picked a combo for a Worgen that in Human form was red headed and balding. Not what I wanted to see.
Gilneas
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The starting area looks like the set from the movie Van Helsing. Think the WoW Undead area but without all of the disease.
Gilneas is really fast paced, and has a sense of impending doom and action that has not been seen in the starting areas in WoW before.
I've only played Puppybutt to level 10, so more to come!
Goblins
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I created a female Goblin Hunter named Socketwench. The Goblin character creation was a lot of fun. There are some amazing hair colors and accessories, like the little skull barrette in Socketwench's hair, but none of the faces for the female Goblins are really "cute". As a level 1 hunter in Cataclysm, you automatically start with a pet. Goblins get Crabs, Tauren get Plainstriders, Orcs get Boars, Trolls get Raptors, Blood Elves get Dragonhawks, Worgen get Mastiffs, Draenei get Moths, Night Elves gets White Tigers, Dwarves get Bears and Humans get Wolves. Gnomes are the only race in WoW NOT to have a Hunter Class. This is one of the more dramatic changes for starting characters since the standing joke was always that the only hard part about leveling a Hunter was the 10 levels you had to play before you got your pet. Now it almost seems too easy. Socketwench is currently level 11.
The Lost Isles
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As you would've probably guessed, the Goblin starting area is very colorful and fun. It's like a rickety theme park on crack. Many of the missions have you riding around on a Hot Rod running over looters and such. The closest thing we've seen in Goblin culture to this was the gaudy indoor decorations in the huts in Gadgetzan (pineapple wallpaper, etc). The Lost Isles will be teeming with new Goblins when Cataclysm starts, cause it's just THAT FUN. Oh and BTW, the Goblin girls do the Beyonce Single Ladies dance! *SQUEE*!
Blizzard has put a lot more variety in the starting areas. In addition to the "Kill-X-Number-
New Classes for old Races
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Ever wanted Undead Hunters? Troll Druids? Human Hunters? Troll Warlocks? They're in the game now!
The number of classes available to each race has expanded to the point where it is just easier to list which classes the races CAN'T be:
Human: NO Shaman or Druid
Dwarf: NO Druid
Night Elves: NO Paladin, Shaman or Warlock
Gnome: NO Paladin, Hunter, Shaman or Druid
Draenei: NO Rogue, Warlock or Druid
Worgen: NO Paladin or Shaman
Orc: NO Paladin, Priest or Druid
Undead: NO Paladin, Shaman or Druid
Tauren: NO Rogue, Mage or Warlock
Troll: NO Paladin
Goblin: NO Paladin or Druid
Blood Elves: NO Shaman or Druid
EVERY Race can be Warriors!.
When I stared WoW back in February 2005, I wanted to make an Undead Hunter. Back then you couldn't, NOW you can! I did! Her name is Batty, with her Bat pet Gorey. It's everything I hoped for in an Undead Hunter. She is my highest newly leveled character at Level 17.
Old Zones
Cataclysm centers around Deathwing returning to Azeroth and causing havoc to the WoW world we know and love. One of the first things I did when I joined the beta, was to fly around all of the old zones and see what was different. This initially took about 3 hours, then I gave up. The differences are HUGE!
All of the original Races' starting areas have been revamped to add some of the new quest styles that the Goblin and Worgen areas have. Brill has been completely redone and it is amazing!
![[]](http://www.seattle-geekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/brill.jpg)
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Batty ventured out to the Sepulcher, but at the moment in the beta there weren't any available quests, so she went off to The Barrens. The Barrens is now 2 zones, Northern and Southern and is separated by a chasm of lava. The Northern Barrens still has The Crossroads, but Blizzard has implemented smaller Quest Hubs in the Far Watch Post and Grom'dol Farm that you go through before you get there.
Ratchet still looks the same, but all of the quests have been tweaked. There is a much more pronounced Alliance presence in the Barrens and Stonetalon. Most of the old zones (at least the ones I've encountered) have quests that are similar to old ones, but the geography has changed, therefore giving the Old World a new feel. More on the Old World as Batty ventures forth.
New Zones
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I opted to use a "template" character to journey to the new 80+ areas of Cataclysm. An 80 Undead Warlock I named Yolo. I immediately ran off to Vashj'ir the underwater Naga city. It's quite an interesting zone where you do a quest to get the ability to swim faster and breathe underwater. Of course nearly everyone in the beta ALSO wanted to see Vashj'ir so it was extremely crowded with lots of competition for quest mobs. I've done only about 10 quests there because I was frustrated with the wait times to kill the mobs I needed.
I also poked my head into the Hyjal area where you help druids fight. I got repeatedly killed over and over again so there isn't much to report from there yet.
The Beta
You can currently only level to 82 in the beta, though Cataclysm will allow players to level their toons to 85. There was a rumor that Cataclysm might be out in August, but in my opinion, there is NO WAY. If my little Undead Hunter can't even play through to The Sepulcher, people can't level past 82, and female Worgen aren't even playable. The launch has to be months away. I've heard November 2010 and that would make more sense. It wouldn't even surprise me if it goes later later than that.
This post is very long, the next few weeks won't be as long as it'll be mostly about what I experience leveling. Thanks for reading, and feel free to post comments or questions if you'd like me to answer something for you!
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