All right, time for some first impressions Cataclysm-wise. The first moments I spent mostly by farming for things and selling them at insane prices over the auction house, but then there was time to get the main out and go on full exploration/questing mode.
I chose to start with the new underwater zone designed for level 80-82 players, Vashj'ir. Even the early areas of the zone are very pretty, but later on there are some sub-zones which are in my opinion some of the most beautiful I've seen in WoW so far.
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| Abyssal Depths |
Now, obviously, if you wish to remain unspoiled over things, it might not be the bestest of ideas to keep reading on. If not, feel free to keep going..
Upon entering the area for the first time, you take a boat ride, which ends up being interrupted by some huge tentacles (you'll notice this to be an on-going theme in Vashj'ir) attached to an even huge-er octopus. As our tour begins, you may witness the glory of my poor farmer-druid almost-drowning to your left.
Now the first round of quests in Kelp'thar Forest area of the zone are honestly saying dreadful. Can you say "I vant you to keel six crabs!" ..Kill this, collect that. We've seen this before! It's boring! First they make a thoroughly unique zone to the game, which looks awesome.. Then they fill out the early stages with utter crap of questing. Seriously?! After playing through some of the best content so far from the new undead starting zone to Hillsbrad Foothills (post coming on these later!), *this* is how they kick off their new zones for the expansion? C'mon! And from what I've heard, Hyjal (the other new starting area for 80's toons) isn't much better in the beginning.
I am happy to say the quality gets better once you gather the strength to drudge through most of the first sub-zone. But still. Not good! But it is not your fault, so have a pretty picture.
The only redeemable thing in the early quests is that you get yourself a brand new seahorse mount. In the picture up there, I have a borrowed mount, which is why it's not all dressed in glorious shadows of the proper-kind of priest-y-ness. In the background you can see the sunken High Elf city, which is now inhibited by the naga. Who also used to be high elves. So it's kinda fitting.
Now, after badmouthing the beginning of Vashj'ir, I have to say it has a lot of very good qualities still. Like, whale sharks! It is frigging HUGE! Much more so than it seems there. Think fel reaver. Think a *silent* fel reaver. Think bigger! I dare you to go and poke it. (not like that.. dirty people!).
New murlocs! That glow!
These things! (I call them Unfish)
And one of the coolest things in the whole zone. Nespirah. A demi-god type of immense underwater bug-thing. It is practically a colossal building. You can go inside it/her/him/something. Think of a big castle with a heart and a brain. Yeah. It's awesome. See the whaleshark there? And you thought that thing was big.
Anyone else reminded of Nausicaä?
Due to the already mentioned farming, I still haven't gone through the whole zone, but clearly it is filled with some really good things to make up for the initial lack of ..um.. goodness. And Godness! There is apparently a brand new old god coming up. Later on in the Abyssal Depths you come across a second of these huge beetle-things. Now, sadly, that one is dead. Lights extinguished, bloody huge tentacles (see, here we go again) working from underneath it, to excavate/devour whatever is left inside the husk lying there, with the creature's lifeless tendrils drifting back and forth in the currents. It's a pretty dreary sight, honestly.
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| Throne of the Tides final boss time |
Another thing that has taken my time from questing are the new instances. Vashj'ir has one. Throne of the Tides. Only been there once so far, but I quite liked it. As the whole zone, really nice visually. You re-encounter the beast that dragged you down to the whole place (can I hear you say HUGE?!), there's a squid boss that jumps from party member to other and takes control of you. Some faceless ones. And some very nice loot. Be prepared to shed some of your old epics.
So, over all I could say I quite like the zone. I never usually enjoy underwater stuff in games much (thanks to fish devouring me in Super Mario, and running out of breath in Sonic), but this is different. There's bouncy jump-walk action on the seabed, there's old gods, there's Nespirah, and there's stunningly beautiful forests of kelp. What more could you ask for. (besides some better-quality starting quests *cough*).
Over and out.
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