Hello everyone

I am a vanilla player just like probably majority of the people are on these forums. I am currently a level 83 (Almost 84) So far has quested in majority of Vash'jir, Deepholm and Uldum. Going to go back to Hyjal probably at 84 to finish it, haven't even started it yet.

I played all throughout World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, and finally playing World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. I've done majority of quests, great share of instances, leveling, and reputation grinds, and of course raids. I decided to give my person review of what I have experience so far, and I will be comparing this experience to my previous WoW experiences as far as questing, zone, and leveling goes.

- Questing -

In original WoW and previous expansions, you would just simply go to the new zone, and start questing. However, there was no real introduction, you'd go to the 1st quest hub location and gather a ton of quest that are spread out all over the map and there was no real organized story telling and questing flow. In Cataclysm, everything is a lot different, you first have to complete a specific zone before you go to your next one in order to unlock the next part of the lore, and be able to follow through.

I like it how Blizzard has created a cohesive and none-annoying running around all over the whole place trying to figure out where to go next and what to do. There would be times where you'd rather just drop a certain quest and move on to the next one, however, that was not the case for me in Cataclysm.

Here is your basic questing flow in Cataclysm from Zone to Zone

1 - Get a Quest - that start's the introduction into leading you to go to the zone

2 - Complete the Introduction/Travel quest to the new zone, get introduced into the zone in a unique way with either a cinematic or a really cool introduction quest in the zone itself before the actual questing begins.

3 - Get to your first quest hub in the zone, pick up all the quests possible which is usually 3-5 or sometimes even 2.

4 - Go to the specified area of the quests, to get the questing done, once finished, return to the questing hub for the turn in. (Also if possible pick up any random quests that you find around the questing area or while your on your way there)

5 - Rince and repeat, till you get your Quest achievement for that zone.

6 - Pick up the specified quests that lead you to your next zone after your done here.

What I really like about this questing system is that, it makes questing really fun, not tedious, and by the time you know it, you have completed over 50 quests. Considering that every zone in Cataclysm has over 100 quests in every single zone, especially with Vash'jir sitting at a whopping 160, it goes pretty fast and doesn't seem slow at all. Vanilla WoW was completely different, you'd go in the zone, find the quest hub, and pick up over 10 if not 15 quests at a time, and go all over the place and try to figure out what to do first.

In Cataclysm everything is much more smoother, and the questing guides you where to go and what to do. It's not that it's making it easier by any means, it's that it just makes it much more fun, enjoyable and smooth. Cataclysm, still has your typical fetch/kill quests here and there, but they're not as bad, and even sometimes have a real cool twist to them that involve a bit more than just killing. Also, there is just much, much, more story involved in pretty much every quests, and not to mention, there is multiple in-game cinematics throughout the questing in each of the 5 new zones that add that "Cool" factor.

Right now I am questing in Uldum, and I am having a fantastic time. Plenty of cool interesting quest hubs, each with their own little unique story, that combines all the quest hubs into 1 big lore of the zone itself. Currently at 40/108 quests and can't wait to finish it and see how it ends. It's an awesome Arabian/Desert Themed zone with a Indiana Jones references lol. It's beautiful and very unique, also, has quite a few cut-scenes too.

Overall, fabulous job Blizzard on questing, and the questing/leveling flow itself - Big Kudos from me =D

[b]- Zones - [b/]

[b]1 - Vash'hir - [/[b] One of the most unique zones I have ever done in WoW History. It's currently the biggest zone in the entire WoW overall. It's so big that it stands at a whopping 160 quests (20 more than Icecrown which was at 140). This zone is so huge, that it had to be divided into 3 sub-zones in order to create 1 big zone. You started your questing in Khelp'thar forest which leads you to Shimmering Expanse, and then to the Abyssal Depths.

What I loved about this zone, is that even though it was so big, I was never lost. The organized questing chains/flow was done perfectly that guided where you needed to go when, in order to progress thoroughly without losing a track of the lore and without missing any quests. It took me a good 6-7 hours to get used to this zone, it is the first zone ever to be fully in underwater. You even gain a exclusive Sea-Horse mount to this zone that gives you 450% underwater speed in order to be able to travel to quest areas and quest hubs. At first, I thought this zone was going to be horrible, considering it was fully in the water, but I was completely wrong and went through a great experience.

If you're going try to tackle Vash'jir all way to 160 quests, make sure you have plenty of time in the day, and that you're willing to be patient enough to learn the ways of navigating in a zone that's fully underwater. It took me an hour or so to learn the navigating in this place, but it was well worth it. This zone is also really good looking, fantastic underwater design that is filled with cool sea creatures, a rich Naga lore that you really get involved in, and plenty of cool "Vehicle Mechanic" quests.

f you haven't done this at start of level 80, do yourself a favor and come back here at 84-85 and do it. You will probably will need to do Vash'jir anyway, since this is there where the Earthen Ring quartermaster is and there is plenty of quests here for them to get reputation for them.

2 - Deepholm - - This is the "Elemental" zone of Cataclysm. It is a humongous circle inside a huge cavern called Deepholm. Surrounded with beautiful differently colored rocks, crystals and all kinds of crazy elemental earth stuff. It has a dark look to it, but it is very appealing and nice to look at. With a tower in the center of the zone, and the quest hub on the bottom floor inside the tower, and another quest hub in the Alliance Gunship.

I have only done 30/125 quests, only because I really wanted to check out Uldum and get my Camel mount before doing this one. From what I have done though, it is pretty cool, and I am sure there will be plenty of cool lore quests just like the rest of the zones in Cataclysm, it's just that I am still kind of at the beginning.

This is a beautiful, elemental/earth Zone that you will want to check out and is basically the "Storm Peaks" zone of Cataclysm due to the fact that this is where you get to gain reputation with Therezane. The Earthmother that gives you your Blue, and Epic shoulder enchants, that every raider and big guild will want to get. This is on your "Must Do" list anyway, sooner or later.

3 - Uldum - Overall, so far my most favorite zone (Haven't done Hyjal yet, or Twilight Highlands) - This is the zone that was always behind the closed doors of Uldum in Vanilla WoW, but on December 7th the doors has finally opened, the doors of greatness! This is a Arabian/Desert themed zone, that has a really cool introduction quest (You get the introduction/unlock Uldum at level 83 in the 1st Quest Hub in Deepholm). You start from defending a Caravan, to being ambushed in the middle of your travels to the new zone with your fellow NPC's only to try to free them after, and escape the Lost City of Tol'vir.

Once you get out, the nation of the zone decides to start a War, and your job is to prepare for the war, and ask the High Priests to join you in battle. You also come across Harrison Jones which is a reference to Indiana Jones. Harrison has his own questing hub in the pyramid/tomb area that you try yo help him out with. Uldum has the least amount of quests, which stands at 108. You got your typical fetch/kill quests but majority of the quests that you do are pretty fun and unique. Like controlling the lions to fend of hungry Hyenas, to escaping a city with your NPCs.

I am currently standing at around 40+/108 quests, and I am having a great time. I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens later on, and I am sure this will end greatly. Every zone in Cataclysm always has a cool ending/quest chain finish with a enormous amount of exp and good quest rewards.

End

I wish I could write more, but since I been taking my sweet time leveling and exploring zones/instances I haven't got far (+ School work, not much time) I will come back and fill this thread with the rest of the zones and give them a better review as I start to clear them up. I mostly finished Vash'jir, currently at 138/160, gonna go back and gotta find the rest of the random 22 quests that are laying around. Luckily I have the Brady Strategy Guide which displays all/every single quest giver in every single zone. If you guys need help with finished your quests in a specified Cataclysm zone let me know =D

I hope you have enjoyed this thread, I am going to be writing more in the next few days, and filling the rest of the impressions on the other zones and current ones too.

Enjoy and have a Cataclysmic Day ^_^