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So. My thoughts on Cataclysm.
My experience so far is limited to three characters, one an 85 druid on one server who is almost ready to do random heroics, but not quite, and who is keeping busy while waiting out the ridiculous random instance queue times. The other two are a lowbie (26) goblin shaman and a lv. 59 goblin DK on a different server; I'm not playing them as much, right now.
One of the things that I like about Cataclysm is the new leveling structure and the structure of quest chains. I feel like there's less time spent running around and searching for what to do next. I've noticed, though, that the quests are so much more centered on you, where you = the character you are currently playing. Suddenly, I'm the only one who is doing all of these things. Mount Hyjal was the biggest example, because the quest chain made such a big deal over how I was the one chosen to restore Hyjal and defeat Ragnaros. Um, okay, so what about the rest of these people running around in the zone doing exactly what I do?
Oh, and I almost forgot. For an even more accessable example, check out the goblin starting zone. It's fun as hell, don't get me wrong, but the plotline for it pretty much makes YOU the executive officer for an important corporation, and everything that happens to Kezan is more or less your doing, or at least you're involved with it.
I haven't noticed a single group quest in Azeroth ever since Cataclysm went live, either. And on the one hand that's great, it means that people aren't utterly dependant on finding someone to help them out to finish a particular quest line - ther are quest lines in Northrend that I just never finished because I would ask if anyone would join me for the last quest that recommended three people, and no one ever would. On the other hand, well, it's almost as if no one else in the world, playerwise, matters. As if you're the only hero, at least up until you have to do dungeons/raids. And by that point, well, not everyone will have learned how to play well with others. It's very possible at this point to level up from one to eighty-five without entering a single instance, and I'm pretty sure I've met at least a couple of those people in randoms. It's not always pretty.
(Conversely, it's also possible to level oneself right out of a quest chain; it happened to my shaman. I'll probably go back once she can fly, finish it later. It's easy to forget just how much easier flying makes everything until one plays a character without it.)
Anyway, as I said, I'm really enjoying the new content. Vash'jir, in particular, was the most fun I'd had in a zone for a long time. The Harrison Jones quest line in Uldum was also a lot of fun.
On another note... this is the first time I've ever had a character at the level cap. My first WoW character was a hunter, and that was before BC; I got her to 58 and then stopped leveling, and started playing BGs instead. Back then, they didn't give any experience, so I pretty much stayed there until I quit the game.
So this is the first time I've had the game to play without worrying about getting to the next level, and it's a bit odd. I mean, I've seen my boyfriend play his hunter at the level cap, and it honestly seems a bit dull, running the same instances over and over in the hopes that some piece of gear or another will drop and you'll get the lucky roll... we'll have to see what I think when I actually start running more difficult content. And I guess that's part of the reason I'm thinking about PVP again - I'm working on a PvE tank spec and a PvP caster damage spec for my druid, at the moment. It's kind of a slow process, but Leatherworking helps, as slow and expensive as it is to level to the cap.
(I'd actually like to RP sometime, in theory. But the only character I have right now that I really find interesting and would like to RP is one of the two on a non-RP server. RP on the server that my druid is on, which IS technically an RP server, is all but nonexistent.)
My experience so far is limited to three characters, one an 85 druid on one server who is almost ready to do random heroics, but not quite, and who is keeping busy while waiting out the ridiculous random instance queue times. The other two are a lowbie (26) goblin shaman and a lv. 59 goblin DK on a different server; I'm not playing them as much, right now.
One of the things that I like about Cataclysm is the new leveling structure and the structure of quest chains. I feel like there's less time spent running around and searching for what to do next. I've noticed, though, that the quests are so much more centered on you, where you = the character you are currently playing. Suddenly, I'm the only one who is doing all of these things. Mount Hyjal was the biggest example, because the quest chain made such a big deal over how I was the one chosen to restore Hyjal and defeat Ragnaros. Um, okay, so what about the rest of these people running around in the zone doing exactly what I do?
Oh, and I almost forgot. For an even more accessable example, check out the goblin starting zone. It's fun as hell, don't get me wrong, but the plotline for it pretty much makes YOU the executive officer for an important corporation, and everything that happens to Kezan is more or less your doing, or at least you're involved with it.
I haven't noticed a single group quest in Azeroth ever since Cataclysm went live, either. And on the one hand that's great, it means that people aren't utterly dependant on finding someone to help them out to finish a particular quest line - ther are quest lines in Northrend that I just never finished because I would ask if anyone would join me for the last quest that recommended three people, and no one ever would. On the other hand, well, it's almost as if no one else in the world, playerwise, matters. As if you're the only hero, at least up until you have to do dungeons/raids. And by that point, well, not everyone will have learned how to play well with others. It's very possible at this point to level up from one to eighty-five without entering a single instance, and I'm pretty sure I've met at least a couple of those people in randoms. It's not always pretty.
(Conversely, it's also possible to level oneself right out of a quest chain; it happened to my shaman. I'll probably go back once she can fly, finish it later. It's easy to forget just how much easier flying makes everything until one plays a character without it.)
Anyway, as I said, I'm really enjoying the new content. Vash'jir, in particular, was the most fun I'd had in a zone for a long time. The Harrison Jones quest line in Uldum was also a lot of fun.
On another note... this is the first time I've ever had a character at the level cap. My first WoW character was a hunter, and that was before BC; I got her to 58 and then stopped leveling, and started playing BGs instead. Back then, they didn't give any experience, so I pretty much stayed there until I quit the game.
So this is the first time I've had the game to play without worrying about getting to the next level, and it's a bit odd. I mean, I've seen my boyfriend play his hunter at the level cap, and it honestly seems a bit dull, running the same instances over and over in the hopes that some piece of gear or another will drop and you'll get the lucky roll... we'll have to see what I think when I actually start running more difficult content. And I guess that's part of the reason I'm thinking about PVP again - I'm working on a PvE tank spec and a PvP caster damage spec for my druid, at the moment. It's kind of a slow process, but Leatherworking helps, as slow and expensive as it is to level to the cap.
(I'd actually like to RP sometime, in theory. But the only character I have right now that I really find interesting and would like to RP is one of the two on a non-RP server. RP on the server that my druid is on, which IS technically an RP server, is all but nonexistent.)
